Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. (1928) is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. Arising out of an unusual incident on August 24, 1924, the case has been studied by generations of law students. The plaintiff, Helen Palsgraf, was injured as she was boarding a train when a man (aided by railroad employees) dropped a package that exploded, causing a large coin-operated scale on the platform to hit her. She sued the railroad, arguing that she had been harmed by the negligence of its employees while they assisted the man. She won a jury verdict but lost on appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York; its opinion was written by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo (pictured), a leading figure in the development of American common law and later a Supreme Court justice. Cardozo wrote for a majority of the Court of Appeals, ruling that the railroad was not negligent because its employees, in helping the man board, did not have a duty of care to Palsgraf as injury to her was not a foreseeable harm from aiding a man with a package.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palsgraf_v._Long_Island_Railroad_Co.

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

49 BC:

Caesar's Civil War: Forces loyal to Julius Caesar led by Gaius Scribonius Curio were crushingly defeated by Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bagradas_(49_BC)

1482:

Anglo-Scottish Wars: The border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and its castle were captured by English forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Berwick_(1482)

1889:

The predominantly Māori New Zealand Native football team played the last match of their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888%E2%80%9389_New_Zealand_Native_football_team

1942:

World War II: Bombers from the United States aircraft carrier Saratoga sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō near Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands, helping to lead to an Allied victory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Eastern_Solomons

2004:

About 90 people died after suicide bombers attacked two airliners flying out of Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Russian_aircraft_bombings

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

lumination: (rare) Illumination; specifically, artificial illumination. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lumination

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is known that Whistler when asked how long it took him to paint one of his "nocturnes" answered: "All of my life." With the same rigor he could have said that all of the centuries that preceded the moment when he painted were necessary. From that correct application of the law of causality it follows that slightest event presupposes the inconceivable universe and, conversely, that the universe needs even the slightest of events.   --Jorge Luis Borges https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges