Court Opinion

ID: 5448438
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-08 18:15:05.125033+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:32:17.246882
License: Public Domain

Beatty, C. J.
A rehearing of this cause is denied, but the statement contained in the Department opinion, to the effect that no similar case had been cited in which damages were allowed, requires correction. The case of Pekin v. McMahon, 154 Ill. 141, 45 Am. St. Rep. 114, was noted on the margin of appellant’s brief, but-escaped attention. There are circumstances which distinguish that case from this—particularly with respect to the culpability of the defendant, but the similarity is sufficient to justify counsel in his claim that his position is supported by a case in point. I can only say that the reasoning of the opinion in that case has failed to convince me, and that the decision stands alone and without other support than may be found in the turntable cases from which the supreme court of Illinois was unable to distinguish it. I think, however, that there is a distinction which relieves us of the necessity of extending an exceptionally harsh rule of liability to such a case.
A turntable is not' only a danger specially created by the act of the ■ owner, but it is a danger of a different kind to those which exist in the order of nature. A pond, although artificially created, is in nowise different from those natural ponds and streams which exist everywhere, and which involve the same dangers and present the same appearance and the same attractions to children. A turntable can be rendered absolutely safe, without destroying or materially impairing its usefulness, by simply locking it. A pond cannot be rendered inaccessible to boys by any ordinary means. Certainly no ordinary fence around the lot upon which a pond is situated would answer the purpose; and, therefore, to make it safe, it must either be filled or drained, or, in other words, destroyed. But ponds are always useful, and often necessary, and where they do not exist natur*356ally, must be created in order to store water for stock and for domestic purposes, irrigation, etc. Are we to hold that every owner of a pond or reservoir is liable in damages for any child that comes uninvited upon his premises and happens to fall in the water and drown? If so, then upon the same principle must the owner of a fruit tree be held liable for the death or injury of a child who, attracted by the fruit, climbs into the branches and falls out. But this, we imagine, is an absurdity, for which no one would contend, and it proves that the rule of the turntable cases does not rest upon a principle so broad, and of such rigid application, as counsel supposes. The owner of a thing dangerous and attractive to children is not always and universally liable for an injury to a child tempted by the attraction. His liability bears a relation to the character of the thing, whether natural and common, or artificial and uncommon, to the comparative ease or difficulty of preventing the danger without destroying or impairing the usefulness of the thing, and, in short, to the reasonableness and propriety of his own conduct, in view of all surrounding circumstances and conditions. As to common dangers existing in the order of nature, it is the duty of parents to guard and warn their children, and, failing to do so, they should not expect to hold others responsible for their own want of care. But, with respect to dangers specially created by the act of the owner, novel in character, attractive and dangerous to children, easily guarded and rendered safe, the rule is, as it ought to be, different; and such is the rule of the turntable cases, of the lumber-pile cases, and others of a similar character. But the owner of a thing dangerous and attractive to children is not always culpable, and therefore is not always liable for an injury to a child drawn into danger by the attraction. It is necessary to discriminate be. tween the cases in which culpability does and does not exist. In the Illinois case cited by counsel, the city of Pekin was held to have been culpable in excavating a deep pit within the city limits, which afterward filled up *357with water. It might be granted that that case was well decided and the principle of the turntable cases properly applied, without holding that this defendant is similarly liable. There the existence of a pond in a thickly peopled quarter was due to the act of the party chai'ged. Here, the existence of the pond was due to the exercise, by the city of San Francisco, of a power and authority which the defendant could not lawfully resist. By the act of the city, and without any fault on his part, his lot was converted into a pond. He might, it is true, have filled it up; but he was no more bound to do so than if it had been a natural pond, because it was in no respect more of a nuisance than it would have been if it had been there before the city was laid out.
The facts being undisputed, it is the province and the duty of the court to decide, as matter of law, whether a defendant has been guilty of culpable negligence, and I think that it would be most unjust to hold that in this case the defendant has omitted any duty that he owed to the child of plaintiff.
The case of Malloy v. Hibernia Bank (Cal., April 22, 1889), which is also much relied upon by counsel, was altogether different in its circumstances, and the culpable negligence of the defendant was clear and evident.
Rehearing denied.