Opinion ID: 1852242
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: The Mississippi Wrongful Death Statute.

Text: Chapter 61, art. 48 of the 1857 Mississippi Code, provided: Whenever the death of any person shall be caused by any such wrongful or negligent act, or omission, as would if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured or damaged thereby, to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, and such deceased person shall have left a widow or children, or both, or husband or father, the person or corporation, or both, that would have been liable if death had not ensued, and the representatives of such person, shall be liable for the damages, notwithstanding the death and the action may be brought in the name of the widow for the death of her husband or by the husband for the death of his wife, or by the parent for the death of a child, or in the name of a child for the death of an only parent; the damages to be for the use of such widow, husband or child, except that in case a widow should have children, the damages shall be distributed as personal property of the husband.... In every such action, the jury may give such damages as shall be fair and just, with reference to the injury resulting from such death to the person suing; but every such action shall be commenced within one year after the death of such deceased person. This original version of the Statute was completely substantive. It provided a new cause of action, [31] identified the parties entitled to recovery, described the damages which could be recovered, and provided a statute of limitations. The early Statute applied only in cases where such deceased person shall have left a widow or children, or both, or husband or father. This unexplained exclusion of mothers (arguably an oversight) was briefly remedied by the revision of the Statute found in the 1871 Code. However, for reasons known only to those who are no longer with us, the Legislature again excluded mothers from the Statute's language in the 1880 Code, only to return them by amendment enacted on March 15, 1884, where they have remained for one hundred and twenty years. See Natchez, Jackson & Columbus R.R. v. Cook, 63 Miss. 38, 1885 WL 3042 (1885). During these early years, the Legislature amended the Statute several times, but the amendments related to substantive matters. This changed with an amendment passed in 1896, Laws 1896, ch 86. This amendment and its progeny are essential to an understanding of our current problem, and it will be helpful to examine, in some detail, this original stray by the Statute from substance to procedure. As discussed infra, the procedural provisions injected in 1896 apparently had more to do with addressing the specific concerns of a single lawyer in a particular case, than with the application of the law, in general.