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Show Page 2 Sugar House. Utah Thursday. November 14. 1957 INDEPENDENT by Richard J. Maughan, B.S.. L.L.B. Other Aspects , Of the Law of Torts i In the last issue of this column we talked some of the degree of care required of each of us as a care required of us as members i of our society. This care and extent to which we .are required to practice it we found to depend upon the partic-- Stated as an abstraction, it is ? relative. For ex-ample, were we f-- .vJ t ' - -- 'if, Strict liability this abstract per-sonality is not our measure of whether conduct is right or wrong. This is because not all conduct which causes injury to another can be labeled with the world "fault" (as we have de-scribed it) or have arisen from a wrongful intent. Rylands Vs. Fletcher The classic example of this strict liability facet of our legal web, is the case of Rylands vs. Fletcher. This case decided in England in the latter part of the last cen-tury (1S6S), gave judicial birth to ' a social philosophy which would , henceforth fasten liability to conduct which was not faulty jand which was not wrongfully tended, but which was actually so-jcial- ly desirable! In this case, the defendant had a reservoir constructed upon his land, the work was done by inde-pendent contractors, who built the water tank over an abondoned coal mine, the shafts of which were filled up and had been un-used for years. No precautions were taken by the independent contractors, they apparently were not aware of the condition, and when the reservoir was filled the water broke through the old shaft which connected with the plain-tiff's adjoining mine and flooded his passages. The court allowed the plaintiff to recover for his damages,. Just-ice Blackburn, of the Exchequer Chamber, saying, "We think that the true rule of law is that the person who for his own purposes brings on his lands and collects land keeps there anything likely to do mischief if it escapes, must keep it at his peril, and if he does net do so is prima facie answer-able for all the damage which is the natural consequence of its es-cape." This statement was, al-jmo- st immediately, qualified by Lord Cairns in that he limited it 'to "non - natural" uses of the land. (Prima facie means that which is presumed to be just and reasonable, or correct until such presumption is overcome by evi-jden- ce which clearly shows that the presumption is not so.) The distinction of Lord Cairn's, differentiating between "natural," land "non - natural" uses of the 'land, brought with it into the more modern cases a further distinction 'between activities in which a great risk is inherent and activ-ities which are more or less sanc-tioned by common endeavor. Thus iattaching liability to the extraor-dinary or "great risk" activities, but not to the others. Present Application It is no great risk to call tc one's mind how this doctrine has ibeen applied to our present j scene. With the industrial revolu-jtio- n hard on the tail of this deci-jsio- n, the new social doctrine found vix., activities which used gas, el-ectricity, water, explosives (blast-ing and etc.), and many others. many places to press its effect, j Jumping, as we have done, from liability for conduct because such conduct is not reasonable to! liability for conduct which may be, reasonable, could put us in mind! of what Charles Macklin, an 13th; Century playwrite put in the; 'mouth of one of his characters, "The law is a sort of hocus-pocu- s science." However, if we remem-jbe- r that our application of reason must be in relation to the situa-tion in which we find ourselves, we can see that the law just vdoes not hocus-pocu- s you from one sit-uation to another. ' In the next column this doctrine of strict liability will be brought !a little closer to home. You will jsee that many of us stand in the proper relation to our situation to be strictly liable if certain facts develop. in the center of R a J Maughan large field it is j conceivable that we would conduct , ourselves in any manner we chose. However, if this particular field were congested with people,1 our. freedom of action would bej severely restricted, and we would, find it necessary to confine our! activities to those which would not; injure others. In other words, we! would exercise such degrees of care as would be reasonable un-der the circumstances. The concept of reasonable con-- ' duct provides, by far, the great-est number of strands in that part of the seamless web which we: call the law of torts, but tied to the ends of some of these strands, are threads which impose liabili-- j ty for conduct without reference; to whether the conduct in ques-- ( tion was reasonable or was not; reasonable. One of these is the; facet of the law of torts which presents its face under the doc-trine called Strict Liability. Strict Liability This area of culpable conduct is of comparatively recent origin. To about the beginning of the twentieth century, the law of torts v? tended to limit liability to those actions wherein "fault" could be found, and "fault" "was construed to mean that kind of conduct which - was born of a wrongful intent, or - which was a departure from that which could be expected from a -- reasonable man the "reason-able man" you know, is that man who does all things in all circum-stances in conformance with the standard of conduct set by the community. I am sure, we can all agree that under that definition character, but that he seems so only when we have not stopped to . think about why he did what he does. You see, the "reasonable man" thinks, in all situations which admit of thought, and be-- ' fore he does something, and for that reason we rely on him to set our standards and without him we would be lost. i However, under the doctrine of l : SOUTH EAST INDEPENDENT 1121 East 21st South Dial IN M Or IIU 61 The South East Independent is entered as Second Class Matter, March 1, 19J, in Salt Lake City Post Office under the act of March 3, 1S79. It is published each Thurs-day morning. South East Independent is pub-lished by the News Bulletin, Inc., and Sugar House Press, Inc., at 1123 E. Twenty-Firs- t South St.. Sugar House, Utah. Subscription rates are 3.00 per year by mail. Single copy price is ten cents. Publisher Clair King Editor Emma D. King T Am A Utah Man, Sir" was played by Army's band at Michie Stadium, New York, in .a tribute to a fighting, never-say-di- e University of Utah football team at the end of one of the most exciting football games every played anywhere. After sorting through a bushel of Hollywood adjectives, we still can't seem to find words applicable to the wonderful fighting spirit displayed by Coach Jack Curtice and his team. Going into the game, the Utes were highly publicized as only a stepping stone for the powerful Army team before they meet Navy in their traditional duel. Navy is using a lot of passing this year, so Army figured a "little warm-up- " against Utah, the "passingest team in the Nation," would be just the ticket. But Army got more than they bargained for. Led by ''Golden Arm" Lee Grosscup. the Utes looked like they were a basketball team the way they threw the ball around. Bad breaks, fumbles, panalties and close calls would have downed a lesser team especially when the Ute line was battered by Army's "Batterin" Bob Anderson. But they picked themselves up time and time again and fought back so hard they scared the pants off Army. An observer said, "It would sure be a dull game if Gross-cu- p and Anderson were out o! there." - We disagree: Sure Anderson from Army and Grosscup from Utah were outstanding, but our hats are off to the whole Utah team. And we DO mean TEAM, for without tremendous support from his teammates, Grosscup's magic arm might just as well be taped to his side. . A job well done, Coach Curtice and team! NOTICE To Mortgagor by Mortgagee in proceeding to foreclosure and sale. Bv virtue of a chattel mortgage by Credit Finance and Hyrum and Carol Crowley dated the 12th day of December, 1956, and upon which default has been made and upon which is due $287.08, we will expose for sale at public auction on November 15, 1957, at 10 a.m., o'clock at 063 East 21 South. Salt Lake City, Utah, certain property mentioned in said mortgage as follows, to wit: 1 21-inc- h Console TV The terms of the sale will be made known on the day of the sale. L. F. Williams, Mgr. NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of John F. Scheib, De-ceased. Creditors will present claims with 'vouchers to the undersigned at the office of W. Douglas Allen, 2121 South State St., Salt Lake City, Utah, on or before the first day of March, A.D.1957. LEONA S. LAYTON, Executrix of the Last Will and Testament John F. Scheib, Deceased. jW. Douglas Allen, Attorney for Executrix, &.D. 1957.) i (Date of first pub. October 31, 'RESPONSIBLE PERSON, male or female, from this area, wanted to service and collect from auto-matic vending machines. No sel-ling. Age not essential. Car, ref-erences, and $700 working capi-tal necessary. Seven to twelve hours weekly nets to $250 monthly. Possibility full time work. For local interview give full particulars, phone. Write to PO Box 672, Minneapolis, Minn. Marine Helicoper Squadron-262- , operating from the aircraft car-rier USS Lake Champlain, distri-buted 1,5000 lbs. of medical sup-plies, 4,000 lbs. of meat, bread, "C" rations, dried milk and wa-ter purifier to the victims - of Continued from front page an "I told you so" attitude, say-ing that the United States would-n't be behind in the satellite race if they, were in power, - and the Republicans are saying that that's exactly why the US. is behind because the Democrats ARE in power. President Eisenhower urged. De-mocratic Congressmen to fbrget about cutting the budget .and spend a little for rocket and sat-ellite development. He also got in a sly pitch for his Federal School Aid program by pointing out that we need educated people in order to produce more scientists . . We don't know all the aspects to the . Federal School Aid pro-gram, but we do agree that there should be a little less finger paint-ing and a little more finger point-ing . . . Read a headline in another, pa- - per: "Cupid's Dart Finds Mark In Salt Lake Sector." Don't know whether all this military talk has infiltrated into the society columns or whether Salt Lake is a tough target for Cupid's dart. Things like - these make a feller wonder. Scientists have pitted their mighty brains against another pro-blemthat of removing the salt from ocean water and utilizing it for irrigation and domestic use. Their elaborate plans and mach-inery leaves a person gasping at all the knowledge they possess. Imagine converting millions of gallons of sea water to fresh wa- - ter each day . . . Goodness knows we can use the water . . . Only one thing bothers me. What are we going to do with all that salt? As usual Utah's liquor laws are being questioned again . . . with-out going through all the legal mumbo - jumbo, apparently the only legal place to drink beer is in the middle of State Street or (of all places) in a state-owne- d liquor store. Whatta way to 'die-do- wned by a sober driver .... Missed in Sugar House has been Mrs. Peggy Gunderson, secretary at South East Furniture who has been very ill at her home the past week. Off to the woods over the week-end were .pheasant hunters J. R. ..Armstrong and Jimmy Arm-strong of Standard Furniture Co., Dan Gardiner, Paul Pehrson. Frankie Nielson at press time was still at the market in San Francisco. 4 ! aa ittt tMt : ; 4 t Support Our Schools EDUCATI0N WEEU! LISTENING and LIVING A new feature, "Listening and Living," begins in this issue. Written and edited by a well-- i known newspaper woman, civic i and church worker, Tammy Thompson, the column will bring advise in every-da- y problems al-ong with her answers. Miss Thompson invites readers of this newspaper to write to her. The Editor Dear Tammy Thompson:: I'm a girl of" 19 trying to make my own way by being a Nurse's Aid at one of the local hospitals here in the city. My father died when I was eight years of age and my mother has not worked since . . . tV;reby hangs this tale. My mother thinks being a Nurse's Aid is not a re-spectable enough job for me and wants me to quit and look for something better. For your information, before accepting this position, I did lock for, other types of employment. I left my application with a num-ber of business firms in town as I pursued typing, shorthand, ard bookkeeping in high school. But to no avail no one hired me. Now at least, I'm earning my own keep and have my own spending money but my mother keeps needling me to look for another job. Honestly, after going all through high school with no spending money and as few clothes as poverty would per-mit, I'm determined to stick with my job! DETERMINED. BY TAMMY THOMPSON Dear Determined: Glad to see you have carefully "weighed" your own financial problems and are taking an "ad-ult- " attitude towards holding I your job. May I remind you that jthere is no greater service to mankind than that of being a nursemaid to someone less for-tunate than yourself and there is a great deal, of personal satisfac-tion derived therefrom. Perhaps, part of your compensation is "hu-manitarian." However, don't lose sight of your other qualifications either. Remember, the hospital where jyou work also needs typists, sten-ographers, and bookkeepers. Do not be bashful in letting your hid-den talents shine forth should the opportunity arise. Remember, a good salesman sells himself before he's able to sell his wares. Be alert to the work opportunities j around you, and at the same time, jearn your honest wage as a Nurse's Aid and be proud of it. Why not set yourself a "savings" jgoal of a few dollars out of each paycheck, thereby accumulating aj nest-egg- ? Then when Mr. Oppo-rtunity knocks, you'll be in a posi-tion to support yourself while changing jobs. Be alert be open-- I minded be able to accept con-istructi-criticism be just as DETERMINED to watch for work balance your "wheels of prog-ress." Tammy Thompson t i "I think his brakes are grabbing." '.iHWi-:t'iJi'.- ii' i.s.n--t i i t.. ki rr iu !:;:. |