THE VALVE OF HUMAN LIFE. 123 



Several of the states, however, permit their juries to assess punitive 

 damages in cases of this character. The regulation applying to such 

 is, in effect, as follows : " The jury may give such damages, pecuniary 

 or exemplary, as, under the circumstances of the case, may seem to 

 them just." Again, in some states, the maximum amount of assess- 

 ment is limited by law to $5,000.00. These facts are mentioned in 

 order to show that such damages cannot be safely included in a set 

 of tables used for computation of values, as either the privilege of the 

 jury, in the one case, or the statutory limitation, in the other, may pre- 

 vent an award from representing a true estimate of the value of the 

 deceased. Under the former conditions, an award of high damages 

 may be in a large degree punitive, and only a small part of it may 

 represent the court's estimate of the pecuniary loss. Under the latter 

 state, an award of $5,000.00 may mean that, in the opinion of the 

 authorities, the life was worth more, but the best that could be done 

 was to give the maximum award. 



From a mass of cases which have been collected for the estimates 

 hereinafter set forth, there have been excluded all those occurring in 

 states in which either of the above conditions were present. Careful 

 exclusion has also been made of cases in which there appeared unusual 

 circumstances or conditions which rendered them non-representative 

 of the great majority. This process has left a total of 147 cases, the 

 decedents in which were males, of all ages, classes and conditions, 

 some completely supporting families, and others merely contributing 

 to the support of other persons. These cases are believed to be the 

 result of wise judicial procedure, the awards have all been confirmed 

 by Supreme Courts or Courts of Appeals, and they seem to form a trust- 

 worthy basis upon which to estimate. 



It appears that there are not conveniently available records of suits 

 at law, in which the decedents were females, in sufficient number to 

 warrant the construction of a table of values for this sex. Such cases 

 seem to be infrequent, compared with those in which the male sex 

 figures. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that man's existence is, 

 by reason of his occupation and inborn venturesomeness, more hazard- 

 ous than woman's, and therefore presents a greater number of 

 casualties. 



Arrangement of the different cases of award for wrongful death, 

 in the order corresponding to the age of the decedents, from the 

 youngest to the oldest, shows a somewhat heterogeneous mass of figures, 

 often varying considerably in the same age column. This might be 

 expected in such an arrangement, for mankind is widely diverse. 

 The productiveness of an individual depends upon his habits, applica- 

 tion, thrift, mental acuteness, physical condition and many of the 

 other personal qualities which accompany mankind. Where one indi- 



