Murphy v Ross

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 28 November 1920
• Date: 28 November 1920
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)

App.,

Murphy

and

Ross

Dangerous employment -Duty to instruct - Duty to employ competent servant - Common interest - Common employment - Negligence - Liability of master.

The plaintiff, a boy of eleven years, sued the defendant, a carrier, for damages for personal injuries occasioned by the alleged negligence of the defendant. The boy was directed by the defendant's foreman to accompany the driver of a horse and cart, in the defendant's employment, for the purpose of guiding the driver, who was a stranger to the district, on hie proper route. There was evidence that the boy had been similarly directed by the foreman on previous occasions, and received small payments from the drivers, but he was never paid anything by the defendant. On the day in question, when the boy was accompanying the driver, and was sitting on the side of the cart, the driver, who was leading his horse up a lane, drew aside to pass another man, and one of the wheels of the cart caught in a rut in the water-table of the lane, with the result that the boy was thrown off, and sustained serious injuries. The defendant offered no evidence, and the learned Judge at the trial directed a verdict for the defendant. On an application for a new...