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46 N.H. 452

State v. Dover

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided June 15, 1866

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1866-06-15

Indictment for want of repairs of a highway in the city of Dover, and for obstructions to the same by large piles of stones by which it was filled up and made narrow.

Relies on Town of Troy v. Cheshire Rail Road · Winship v. Enfield · Chamberlain v. Enfield

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1866-06-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently April 1950

4 state decisions

201866187018801890190019101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Bartlett, J.

¶1The Revised Statutes provide that a fine shall be imposed upon any town, which "shall neglect to keep any highway therein in good repair and suitable for the travel passing thereon. Rev. Stat. ch. 53 sec.l. The structures complained of had been standing for some years, and if, as the jury have found, they obstructed the safe and convenient use of the highway, it was not "in good repair and suitable for the travel passing thereon.” Winship v. Enfield, 42 N. H. 197; Chamberlain v. Enfield, 43 N. H. 358. And although the charter of the railroad gave it no right to thus obstruct the highway and it might be liable to the city, this would not relieve the latter of its responsibilities and liabilities to individuals and to the public. Troy v. Railroad, 23 N. H. 94; Elliott v. Concord, 27 N. H. 204; Hooksett v. Amoskeag Co., 44 N. H. 109; Palmer v. Portsmouth, 43 N. H. 269; Rev. Stat. ch. 57, sec. 2, ch. 59, sec. 5. We think, therefore, that the instructions were not open to the objection made to them.

¶2The entry of a nolle prosequi before trial is not a bar to a subsequent indictment. 1 Chit. C. L. *480; Wharton C. L. 249; Marston v. Jenness, 11 N. H. 161; State v. Hodgkins, 42 N. H. 476; Commonwealth v. Wheeler, 2 Mass. 172; Commonwealth v. Briggs, 7 Pick. 179. No arrangement between the respondent in the information and the railroad could bar the right of the State to require of the city a performance of its statutory duty in keeping the highway in suitable repair; and as no evidence was offered that the counsel for the State were party to the arrangement, it is unnecessary to inquire whether their concurrence could have added to its legal efficacy. The exception on account of the rejection of the evidence must be overruled, and there must be

¶3Judgment on the verdict.

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