New York Central R. Co. v. Chisolm, 268 U.S. 29 (1925)

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New York Central R. Co. v. Chisolm

No. 306

Argued March 19, 20, 1925
Decided April 13, 1925
268 U.S. 29

ON CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. The right of action given by the Employers’ Liability Act is based wholly on tort. P. 31.

2. Legislation is presumptively territorial, and, in the case of this statute, an intention to give it extraterritorial effect is neither disclosed in its words nor inferable from circumstances. P. 31.

3. An employee of an American railroad company was fatally injured while operating on its line in Canada, and his administrator brought an action in this country for damages under the Liability Act, alleging negligence. The plaintiff and the decedent, like the carrier, were citizens of the United States. Held, upon a construction of the Act, and without considering the power of Congress to impose civil liability on citizen of the United States for torts committed in alien territory, that the action would not lie.

Question certified by the circuit court of appeals, arising on review of a judgment for damages recovered in the district court by the administrator of a deceased railway employee, in an action under the Employers’ Liability Act.