Antoine Co. v. Ridge Co.

Crocker, J. delivered the opinion of the Court—Norton, J. concurring.

This is an action to recover the possession of certain mining ground and damages caused by the working of the same. The plaintiffs recovered judgment for the possession of the property, for damages in the sum of $2,500, and costs amounting to $2,952.75. The defendants moved for a new trial, and to retax the hill of costs, which were denied, and they thereupon took this appeal.

The parties are the owners of certain mining claims on opposite [220]sides of a ridge or hill; and the main question in controversy was how far hack upon the ridge or hill their respective claims extended. The first two points of error assigned by the appellants are, that the evidence as to the location of the claims does not sustain the verdict of the jury. The third point is, that the evidence does not show that the defendants trespassed upon the ground, even as claimed by the plaintiffs. The fourth point is, that the damages are excessive, and the verdict in this respect is not sustained by the evidence. The transcript in this case is very voluminous, containing five hundred and forty-seven pages, the greater part of which is made up of the evidence given on the trial which it seems occupied about twenty days of the time of the Court below. The evidence, as is usual in such cases, is very conflicting—especially upon the principal questions involved in the controversy. It is not claimed that the Court below erred in its instructions to the jury, or that any error of law occurred during the trial prejudicial to the defendants. Even if we should come to the conclusion, from a full and careful reading of the evidence in the record, that the testimony preponderated against the verdict of the jury upon these points, we would not be justified in setting it aside. We could not possibly obtain from a mere reading of the evidence, as full and clear a view of the true facts of the casé as the Court and jury who tried it. The appellants insist that the jury were governed by passion and prejudice in the action; but it is not charged that the Judge who tried the case was governed by any such feelings. He heard all the testimony of the witnesses as it was given to the jury, and the law has vested him with the power to grant a party, against whom a verdict has been rendered, a new trial, in all cases where, in his opinion, the verdict is against law, or the evidence is insufficient to justify it, or where the damages are excessive and appear to have been given under the influence of passion or prejudice. This power is a very impprtant one in the protection of the rights of parties litigating in Court. Courts should be liberal in granting new trials in all cases where the Judge who tried the case is satisfied that the verdict is not sustained by the evidence, or that the jury were influenced by passion or prejudice. The law has vested this power in the nisi prius Courts, to be exercised discreetly, in