Green v The London General Omnibus Company Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 18 November 1859 |
| Date | 18 November 1859 |
| Court | Court of Common Pleas |
English Reports Citation: 141 E.R. 828
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS AND IN THE EXCHEQUER CHAMBER
S. C. 29 L. J. C. P. 13; 2 L. T. 95; 6 Jur. 228; 8 W. R. 88. See Edwards v. Midland Railway, 1880, 6 Q. B. D. 289. Referred to, Allen v. Flood, [1898] A. C. 27.
[290] g-reen o. the london general omnibus company (limited). Nov. 18th, 1859. [S. C. 29 L. J. G. P. 13; 2 L. T. 95; 6 Jur. N. S. 228; 8 W. R. 88. See Edwards v. Midland Railway, 1880, 6 Q. B. D. 28if. Keferred to, Alien \. Flood, [1898] A. C. 27.] A corporation aggregate may be liable to an action for intentional acts of misfeasance by its servants, provided they are sufficiently connected with the scope and object of its incorporation.-Therefore, in an action against a company established for conveying passengers by omnibuses in the streets of London, charging that the company by its servants wrongfully, vexatiously, and maliciously did certain acts (describing them) with a view to, and which in the result dicl, obstruct and annoy the plaintiff in the conduct of a similar trade :-Held, that, as the acts complained of were connected with the object and purpose for which the company was incorporated the company was responsible. This was an action against the defendants for wrongfully and maliciously obstructing the plaintiff in his business of an omnibus proprietor. The declaration stated, that, before and at the time of the committing the grievances thereinafter mentioned, the plaintiff carried on the trade and business of a carrier of passengers for hire in certain public streets, roads, and highways, to wit, &c., by means of certain omnibuses of the plaintiff drawn by horses and driven and conducted by the servants of the plaintiff, for the profit and benefit of the plaintiff, and which said omnibuses of the plaintiff had full liberty and right to run respectively from, &c., bo, &c. and to stop for a reasonable time at all points and places on and along the said public streets, roads, and highways, for the purpose of taking up and putting down passengers, and at certain points and places in the said streets, roads, and highways where numerous passengers were accustomed to enter the omnibuses passing such points and places, the said omnibuses of the plaintiff and all other omnibuses passing that way were, by the police-regulations then lawfully enforceable and enforced, permitted to wait for a certain space of time, to wit, for the space of four minutes, to look for passengers, unless by their so doing any actual obstruction to the thoroughfares or nuisance to the inhabitants near the places was caused thereby : Yet the defendants, well knowing the premises, but contriving and intending to injure, impoverish, and ruin the plaintiff, and to prevent him from carrying on his said business, at divers [291] times before this suit, wrongfully, vexatiously, and maliciously placed and drove in the public streets, roads, and highways aforesaid, certain other omnibusea and carriages just before and just behind the said omnibuses of the plaintiff, whilst the same, with the plaintiff's horses drawing the same, were plying for passengers for hire in the public streets, roads, and highways as aforesaid, and with which the plaintiff was then carrying on his said business, in such a manner as to hinder and prevent, frighten, and deter great numbers of persons from entering the plaintiff's said omnibuses and becoming passengers therein for hire, as they otherwise 7C. B.(S. S.)M2. GREEN V. THE LONDON GENERAL OMNIBUS CO. 829 might and would have done, and so as to hinder and prevent the plaintiff'from having the free use of the said streets, roads, and highways with his said omnibuses and horses in so large and ample a manner as he otherwise might and would have done, and so as to retard, delay, and stop the said omnibuses of the plaintiff, and so as greatly to obstruct and iricumber the said highways, to the nuisance of the Queen's subjects then lawfully using the same : And further the plaintiff said that the defendants wrongfully, vexatiously, and maliciously drove and placed in the public streets, roads, and highways aforesaid, certain other carriages and omnibuses upon and against the said omnibuses and horses of the plaintiff, and upon and against the servants of the plaintiff then conducting the same, while the said omnibuses, with the plaintiff's horses harnessed to the same, and the plaintiff's said servants conducting the same, were plying and waiting for passengers for hire in the public streets, roads, ;uid highways aforesaid, and with which the plaintiff was then carrying on his said business as aforesaid, in such a manner as thereby to bruise, damage, and injure the said omnibuses and horses of the plaintiff, and to prevent the floors of the said [292] omnibuses from being opened, and to obstruct and block up the access of passengers into the said omnibusea of the plaintiff, and to hinder and disable the said servants of the plaintiff from freely and fully performing their duties to the plaintiff in the conduct and management of the said omnibuses of the plaintiff, and whereby they were so hindered and disabled as aforesaid accordingly : And the plaintiff further said that the defendants also, contriving and intending as aforesaid, at the several times aforesaid also wrongfully, vexatiously, and maliciously, in the said public streets, roads, and highways, thrust and pushed themselves, and caused their servants to and they did thrust, push, and place themselves...
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