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Show . THE READER'S COURTROOM . Crack in Back of Sacroiliac By Will Bernard, LL.B 1 If a Girl Gets Hurt Jitterbugging, May She Collect Damages? The members of a country club decided to give a dance for a group of soldiers stationed nearby, and a number of girls were invited to act as hostesses. During the party, one of the soldiers asked a girl to dance and she accepted little realizing what was coming. The soldier happened hap-pened to be a rabid jitterbug, and immediately began flinging his partner around with reckless abandon. aban-don. The girl was terrified and Is a Pedestrian Supposed To Guess the Speed of An Oncoming Car? A businessman decided to walk across the street from his office for a cup of coffee. He noticed a car approaching at a distance, but figured that he still had plenty of time to cross. He was wrong. The car, which was exceeding the speed limit, knocked him down. Injured, the man sued for damages. At the trial, the motorist tried to shift the blame onto the pedestrian "for starting across the street when he could see how fast I was coming." But the court held the motorist solely responsible for the accident. The judge said that, while a pedestrian pe-destrian must use due care, he needn't make "mathematical calculations calcu-lations to see if he will beat an oncoming on-coming car. If o Person Confesses A Crime in His Sleep, May He be Convicted? A prominent club woman was slain one night, in a crime that baffled baf-fled the city's best detectives. A few days later, a young man walked into police headquarters and said: "My roommate killed that woman. yy:y. did ,t; screamed for help, but no one came to her rescue. By the time the dance was over, she had suffered an injury to her sacroiliac! Later she decided to sue the club for damages. dam-ages. The club officials argued that the girl took her own chances in accepting ac-cepting the dance, but the court disagreed dis-agreed and granted her claim. The judge said that an organization sponsoring a public affair of this kind must at least try to protect the hostesses from disorderly guests. A certain city council passed a law authorizing police to kill any dog found at large without a muzzle. muz-zle. A few weeks later, an officer noticed an unmuzzled collie running along the street and quickly shot the animal. The dog's owner had the officer arrested on criminal charges, claiming that the city had no right to condemn a dog that wasn't doing any harm. But the court held the law valid and found the policeman not guilty. The judge aid tnat the ban on unmuzzled dogs was to guard the public health. n He said so, very plainly, In his sleep last night." The roommate was arrested ar-rested and brought to trial on charges of murder mainly on the basis of his nocturnal "confession." However, the court ordered him freed. The judge said that his so-called so-called confession would not stand up in court, because it wasn't made "of his own free will." |