He
rules that [121] acts or omissions proved or in question do not
constitute a ground of legal liability, and in this way the law
is gradually enriching itself from daily life, as it should.
Thus, in Crafton v. Metropolitan Railway Co., /1/ the plaintiff
slipped on the defendant's stairs and was severely hurt. The
cause of his slipping was that the brass nosing of the stairs had
been worn smooth by travel over it, and a builder testified that
in his opinion the staircase was unsafe by reason of this
circumstance and the absence of a hand-rail. There was nothing to
contradict this except that great numbers of persons had passed
over the stairs and that no accident had happened there, and the
plaintiff had a verdict. The court set the verdict aside, and
ordered a nonsuit. The ruling was in form that there was no
evidence of negligence to go to the jury; but this was obviously
equivalent to saying, and did in fact mean, that the railroad
company had done all that it was bound to do in maintaining such
a staircase as was proved by the plaintiff. A hundred other
equally concrete instances will be found in the text-books.
On the other hand, if the court should rule that certain acts or
omissions coupled with damage were conclusive evidence of
negligence unless explained, it would, in substance and in truth,
rule that such acts or omissions were a ground of liability, /2/
or prevented a recovery, as the case might be.
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