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Computation Of Future Damages: A View From The Bench, William Burns Lawless

Journal Articles

At the turn of the century the United States Supreme Court held that a common-law action could not be maintained in a court of the United States against a Mexican railroad, incorporated in Colorado, for the wrongful death in Mexico of an American switchman. Mr. Justice Holmes, writing for the majority, said that the American court should refuse to administer a Mexican statutory rule of damages which provided compensation in the form of scheduled, periodic payments instead of the lump-sum award traditional to American jury verdicts.

While the case is of primary interest for students of conflict of laws, it …