The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-01-14
NOTES or LEGAL EVENTS.

AFTER q good deal oil backing ana nlIlng the
judicial appointments up the State seem to be
finally settled. Mr.. Justice LauRhlln OF Buffalo
takes his seat a. q member OF the Appellate
Division at Rochester tomorrow, and Mr.. JUS
tice Kellogg OF Plattsburg succeeds Judge
Landon on tho Albany Appellate Division.
Gov. Roosevelt has announced that the desiR-
nation OF Judge Kellogg was requested by all
the other members OF the court. Judge Hiscock
OF Syracuse prefers that the remaining va.
cancy on the Appellate Division OF tho Fourth
Department should be filed BY the appoint
ment Of Mr.. Justice Williams Of Utica rather
than himself. When judge Williams was re.
elected in 1897 It Was upon the understanding
In hls district that he should not thereafter ac-
cept an assignment to sit on the Appellate Dr.
vision In this city. as the local bar did not want
to be deprived OF his services at home. 1t may
be. however. that tho same objections do not
exist to his going on the Appellate bench at
Rochester, which is In the same judicial depart
ment as his district.
An amendment TO the State Constitution In
creasing the number OF Supreme Court JUS
tees has been introduced In the Legislature
by Senator Grady OF this city. 1t proposes to
add four Judges TO the judicial force In the
First district and three In the Brooklyn dis
trict. An amendment providing for three more
Judges In the Brooklyn district has already re-
celved the approval OF one Legislator re-. II II
Is passed by the Legislature OF 1901 and
adopted BY the people In the autumn OF that
year. the now Judges may be elected In 1902.
Mr.. Grady's measure IL probably u substitute
for this. merely enlarging 1t so as to provide
for nm increase here also. In the Brooklyn dis
trict the increase will be more apparent than
real. for until recently the people there have
had the services Of two retired Judges-Mr.
Justice Barnard OF Poughkeepsie and Mr.. JUS
ticc Dykman OF White Plains who were en-
powered to hold court. after having attained
the age Of 10, under a special provision OF the
Constitution Of 1894.
An interesting question OF college taxation
has lust been decided In favor OF Harvard
University by tho Supreme Judicial Court OF
Massachusetts, Under the tax laws OF the
commonwealth property devoted TO college
purposes is exempt. In Cambridge there is an
association Of students known as the Foxcroft
Club who obtain their meals at actual cost in a
building provided for them for that purpose by
the university. The court holds that this Ia a
college use OF the building. and that II can no
more be taxed than a college dining hall. which
has always been regarded as exempt The tax
ability OF the houses occupied by President
Eliot and Prot. Langdell OF the law school is
also passed upon. and they are declared not 10
be subject 10 assessment The college pro-
vides these houses without any charge to the
occupants. and that OF the President Is de-
voted TO college purposes on class day
and commencement day. SO far as the
I'VE floor is concerned. Meetings OF the
faculty are also held there. and President
Eliots occupation Is llkened by the court to
President Mckinley's occupation OF the White
House. which cannot be deemed solely private
and for his own benefit. The reasons for
ptinG Prot. Langdells house do not seem
to US quite as strong or satisfactory.
Acase Of considerable importance to land
owners who have occasion to improve their
property by blasting in the vicinity Of highways
was decided by the Court OF Appeals on Tuas-
day. In the summer OF 1895 a young girl
named Annie +. Harten was killed on the Har-
riman road at lrvington, y y. by a blow from
Il falling stump which had been thrown aloft
and ~laterally a distance OF 400 feet by n blast
of dynamite fred on the land Of DR.. Carroll
Durham for the purpose Of removing a large
tree. Mrs. sullivan. the girls mother. brought
a suit against DR.. Durham and the persons
whom he had employed to do the blasting,
to recover damages for wrongiully causing
her daughter, death. On the first
trial she obtained a verdict Of $4,000,
but the Appellate Division was compelled to
reverse the judgment on account q! the
erroneous exclusion ~ evidence offered by tho
defendants. The court. however, laid down the
RUE that zone who In the process OF blasting
upon his land ADJOINING the highway nficts
physical injuries upon one IA w!ully in the high
way by throwing stones, wood or other objects
from the blast against the person Of the travel.
Ter is a wrong loer and responsible IA such. no
matter how carefully the blasting 4, carried
on" Upon the second trial, which wns had
under this rule o. law. the verdict FOR tho plain.
til was $1,000; and ne the questions involved
were novel. the Appellate Division granted the
defendants leave 10 ape al to the COurs OF An.
reals, Where the Judgment has tcen am rmed
A pathetic feature Of the case was the subse.
quent decease Of Miss Harten's com m ion at
the time Of the accident. a young plrl who
was so shocked at her friends death that sbc
been struck by any portion Of the hl,s,ab ,raa
The twenty third annual meeting OF the New
York State Bar Association is To be hold at
Albany, under the presidency u Walter s,
Logan Of this city. on Tuesday and Wedues Law
Of this week. concluding with n ban1 net nt
- N, n = -. Al. -,l - IL.