or other employees thereof, and in consequence of the willful wrongs, whether of commission or omission, of such agents, engineers or other employees, when such wrongs are in any manner connected with the use and operation of any railway on or about which they shall be employed, and no contract which re stricts such liability shall be legal or binding.

Nor shall any contract of insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity in case of injury or death, entered into prior to the injury, between the person so in jured and such corporation, or any other person or association acting for such corporation, nor shall the acceptance of such insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity by the person injured, his widow, heirs, or legal representatives after the injury, from such corporation, person, or association, constitute any bar of defense to any cause of action brought under the provisions of this sertion, but nothing herein shall be construed, prevent or invalidate any settlement for damages between the parties subsequent to injuries received.

In all actions hereafter brought against any such corporation to recover damages for the personal injury or death of any employee under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this section, the fact that the employee may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of such negligence attributable to the employee: Provided, That no such employee who may be injured or killed shall be held to have been guilty of contributory negligence in any case where the violation by such common carrier or corporation of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee; nor shall it be any defense to such action that the employee who was injured or killed assumed the risks of his employment.

2. Liability of employers for injuries to employees.

Sec. 1. (Repealing section 4999-a-3 of Supplement of Code of 1907). In all cases where the property, works, machinery, or appliances of an employer are defective or out of repair, and where it is the duty of the employer from the character of the place, work, machinery or appliances to furnish reasonably safe machinery, appliances or place to work, the employee shall not be deemed to have assumed the risk, by continuing in the prosecution of the work, growing out of any defect as aforesaid, of which the employee may have had knowledge when the employer had knowledge of such defect, except when in the usual and ordinary course of his employment it is the duty of such employee to make the repairs, or remedy the defects. Nor shall the employee under such conditions be deemed to have waived the negligence, if any, unless the danger be imminent and to such extent that a reasonably prudent person would not have continued in the prosecution of the work; but this statute shall not be construed so as to include such risks as are incident to the employment. And no contract which restricts liability hereunder shall be legal or binding.

KANSAS.

(General Statutes of 1901.)

In this state railroad companies that do not elect to accept the provisions of the compensation law of 1911, given farther on, are subject to the following statute:

Sec. 5858. (As amended by chapter 281, Acts of 1907.) Every railroad company organized or doing business in the State of Kansas shall be liable for all damage done to any employee of said company in consequence of any negligence of its agents, or by any mismanagement of its engineers or other employees, to any person sustaining such damage: Provided, That notice in writing that an injury has been sustained, stating the time and place thereof, shall have been given by or on behalf of the person injured to such railroad company within eight months after the occurrence of the injury: Provided, however, That where an action is commenced by the injured person within said eight months, it shall not be necessary to give said notice: And provided further, That where any person injured is in the hospital of or under the charge of the railroad company causing the injury, or is prevented by the effects of said injury, the said eight months shall not begin to run till such person is discharged from said hospital or care of said railroad company or until such disability be removed: Provided further, That in case said injured person shall die, as a result of said injuries, within said eight months, it shall not be necessary to give said notice: Provided further, That said notice need not state whether or not suit is intended to be brought.

A statute of 1903 requires the installation of fire escapes on factories, and of safety devices in manufacturing establishments, and authorizes an action for injuries or death resulting from disregard by the employer of the provisions of the act.

KENTUCKY.

An Act (Statutes of 1903, section 793) which regulates the construction of railroad bridges and tunnels, and directs the use of air brakes on railroad trains and the blocking of frogs at switches, makes the company liable for injuries resulting from a failure or neglect to comply with the provisions of the law.

LOUISIANA.

(Revised Civil Code-Edition of 1887.)

Art. 2316. Every person is responsible for the damage he occasions not merely by his act, but by his negligence, his imprudence, or his want of skill. Art. 2317. We are responsible, not only for the damage occasioned by our own act, but for that which is caused by the act of persons for whom we are answerable, or of the things which we have in our custody *****

Art. 2320. Masters and employers are answerable for the damages occas`ioned by their servants or overseers, in the exercise of the functions in which they are employed.

Teachers and artisans are answerable for the damage caused by their scholars or apprentices, while under their superintendence.

In the above cases, responsibility only attaches, when the masters or employers, teachers and artisans, might have prevented the act which caused the damages, and have not done it.

MAINE.

(Acts of 1909-Chap. 258.)

Sec. 1. If personal injury is caused to an employee, who at the time of the injury, is in the exercise of due care, by reason of:

First, a defect in the condition of the ways, works or machinery connected with or used in the business of the employer, which arose from, or had not been discovered or remedied in consequence of, the negligence of the employer or of a person in his service who has been entrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways, works or machinery were in proper condition; or

Second, that the negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was entrusted with and was exercising superintendence and whose sole or principal duty was that of superintendence, or in the absence of such superintendent, of a person acting as superintendent with the authority or consent of such employer.

Third, the negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was in charge or control of a signal, switch, locomotive engine or train upon a railroad.

The employee or his legal representatives, shall, subject to the provisions of the eight following sections, have the same rights to compensation and of action against the employer as if he had not been an employee nor in the service, nor engaged in the work, of the work of the employer.

Sec. 2. If the injury described in the preceding section results in the death of the employee, and such death is not instantaneous or is preceded by conscious suffering, and if there is any person who would have been entitled to bring action under the provisions of the following section, the legal representatives of said employee may, in the action brought under the provisions of the preceding section, recover damages for the death in addition to those for the injury.

Sec. 3. If as the result of the negligence of an employer himself, or of a person for whose negligence an employer is liable under the provisions of section one, an employee is instantly killed, or dies without conscious suffering, his widow or, if he leaves no widow, his next of kin, who, at the time of his death, were dependent on his wages for support, shall have a right of action for damages against the employer.

Sec. 4. If under the provisions of either of the two preceding sections, damages are awarded for the death, they shall be assessed with reference to the degree of culpability of the employer or of the person for whose negli gence the employer is liable.

The amount of damages which may be awarded in an action under the provisions of section one for a personal injury to an employee, in which no damages for his death are awarded under the provisions of section two, shall not exceed four thousand dollars.

The amount of damages which may be awarded in such action, if damages for his death are awarded under the provisions of section two, shall not exceed five thousand dollars for both the injury and the death, and shall be apportioned by the jury between the legal representatives of the employee and the persons who would have been entitled, under the provisions of section three, to bring an action for his death if it had been instantaneous or without conscious suffering.

The amount of damages which may be awarded in action brought under the provisions of section three shall not be less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars.

Sec. 5. (This section provides that notice of the time, place and cause of the injury shall be given in writing to the employer within sixty days, and that action shall be commenced within one year).

Sec. 6. If an employer enters into a contract, written or verbal, with an independent contractor to do part of such employer's work, or if such contractor enters into a contract with a sub-contractor to do all or any part of the work comprised in such contractor's contract with the employer, such contract or sub-contract shall not bar the liability of the employer for injuries to the employees of such contractor or sub-contractor, caused by any defect in the condition of the ways, works, machinery or plant, if they are the property of the employer or are furnished by him, and if such defect arose, or had not been discovered or remedied, through the negligence of the employer or of some person entrusted by him with the duty of seeing that they were in proper condition.

Sec. 7. An employee or his legal representatives shall not be entitled under the provisions of sections one to four, inclusive, to any right of action for damages against his employer if such employee knew of the defect or negligence which caused the injury, and failed within a reasonable time to give, or cause to be given, information thereof to the employer, or to some person superior to himself in the service of the employer who was entrusted with general superintendence.

Sec. 8. The provisions of the seven preceding sections shall not apply to injuries caused to domestic servants or farm laborers by fellow-employees, or to those engaged in cutting, hauling or driving logs.

Sec. 9. Nothing in this act shall be construed to abridge any common law rights or remedies which the employee may have against his employer, but a judgment recovered under the provisions of this act, or a settlement of any action commenced or claim made for death or injury, under the provisions of this act, shall be a bar to any claim made or action begun to recover for the same injury or the same death, under the provisions of the common law or under the provisions of any other statute.

(Chapter 33.)

Sec. 1. No person shall, by a special contract with his employees, exempt himself or another person from liability which he may be under to them for injuries suffered by them in his employment and resulting from the negligence of the employer or such other person, or of a person in his employ.

MARYLAND.

(Public Local Laws-Code of 1888.)

Art. 1, Sec. 195a. (Added by chapter 412, Acts of 1902). Any corporation, partnership, association, individual, individuals, engaged in the business of owning or conducting any coal mines or clay mines in Allegany or Garrett counties, whether such owner or owners, operator or operators be residents of the State of Maryland or not, employing persons in the operation of mining coal or clay, shall be liable in law to any employee engaged in such occupation or to his legal representatives, in case of death, for the damage arising and following from any injury received by said employee through the negligence

of said owner or operator or employees, and if the negligence causing such injury be found to consist of the joint or collective negligence of both the employer, his agent or agents, employee or employees, on the one hand, and of the negligence of the injured employee on the other hand, then it shall be the duty of the jury, or of the court sitting as a jury, to determine and ascertain as near as may be the proportion of such negligence of which each has been guilty, and having ascertained and determined such proportions of negligence causing the injury, it shall be the duty of the jury, or of the court sitting as a jury, to apportion the damages arising from said injury in like proportion or degree and award to the plaintiff or plaintiffs the proportion of damages suffered which it shall have been determined was the proportion of the defendant or defendants' negligence contributing to the injury complained of. (Art. 1, revision of 1902, Sec 209a, regulating the operators of mines in Allegany and Garrett counties makes owners or operators who fail to comply therewith liable in damages for injury or death caused by such failure.)

(Acts of 1908, Chap. 724-Railroads.)

Sec. 300n. Any employee of such railroad company or of any such receiver who may be killed or injured by any train which was run or operated contrary to the provisions of section 300k of this act, or who may be killed or injured as the result of any act of any person employed contrary to the provisions of section 300k of this act shall not be deemed thereby to have assumed the risk thereby occasioned, although continuing in the employment of such railroad company or of such receiver, after the unlawful running or operating of such or the unlawful employment of such person has been brought to his knowledge; nor shall any such employee be held to have contributed to his death or injury in any case where such railroad company or such receiver shall have violated any of the provisions of section 300k of this act when such violation contributed to the death or injury of such employee, and all questions of negligence, or either or both, arising in cases brought under or by virtue of said section of this act shall be for the jury.

MASSACHUSETTS.

(Acts of 1909 Chapter 514.)

Sec. 127. If a personal injury is caused to an employee, who at the time of the injury, is in the exercise of due care by reason of:

First, A defect in the condition of the ways, works or machinery connected with or used in the business of the employer, which arose from, or had not been discovered or remedied in consequence of, the negligence of the employer or of a person in his service who had been entrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways, works or machinery were in proper condition; or,

Second, The negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was intrusted with and was exercising superintendence and whose sole or principal duty was that of superintendence, or, in the absence of such superintendent, of a person acting as superintendent with the authority or consent of such employer; or,

Third, The negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was