No. 4.] EURAL LAW. 177 



that they may pass without interference ; and also with the 

 provision that, when teams are moving in tlie same direc- 

 tion and one wishes to pass the other, the passing vehicle 

 shall take the left of the middle of the travelled part of the 

 way, and that, if the bridge or travelled part of the way 

 is of sufficient width for the two teams, the driver of the 

 leading one shall not wilfully obstruct the passage of the 

 other. But there is sometimes difficulty in applying this 

 law in exceptional cases and under exceptional conditions. 

 In March, 1843, one Jaquith was driving from Reading to 

 Medford in his sleigh. Near the village of Stoneham he 

 met the defendant Richardson, driving a four-horse stage 

 coach with fourteen passengers. The left-hand side of the 

 highway, as the stage coach was moving, was covered with 

 an unbroken mass of snow, so that the beaten and travelled 

 track in the snow was entirely on the right of the centre of 

 the highway, as it would appear when there was no snow on 

 the ground. The plaintiif turned his horse out into the 

 snow and stopped for the stage to pass ; but when the teams 

 met, a collision occurred, and the plaintiff was injured. 

 The driver of the stage claimed that, inasmuch as he was 

 on the right of the centre of the road as it was worked in 

 summer, he could not be held liable under the statute ; but 

 the court thought otherwise, and said that, by the true con- 

 struction of chapter 51 of the Revised Statutes, when that 

 part of a road which is wrought for travelling is hidden by 

 snow, and a path is beaten and travelled on the side of the 

 wrought part., persons meeting on such beaten and travelled 

 path are required to drive their vehicles to the right of the 

 middle of such path. This it will be seen was really an ap- 

 plication of the spirit of the statute, rather than of its exact 

 letter. 



It may further be observed that the law guards with jealous 

 care the right of the pul)lic to pass over the highway and 

 to use it for all proper purposes. Hence, the owner of the 

 fee in the highway is never allowed to set gates across it 

 nor to put up other obstructions, and any passer by may 

 lawfully throw them down. 



