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| Richardson v. Inhabitants of Town of Danvers, 57 NE 688, 176 Mass 413, 79 Am St Rep 320 (1900). A bicyclist riding on a highway hit a depression and was thrown from his bicycle and injured. A bicycle may be considered a vehicle or carriage for many purposes: it may be lawfully used on the highway, and is subject to the law of the road, a bicyclist may be prohibited from riding or driving "furiously", may be prohibited from a sidewalk, and may be required to pay tolls. But a bicycle is more properly a machine and not a "carriage" within the meaning of the statute requiring that highways be kept in repair, "so that the same may be reasonably safe and convenient for travelers, with their horses, teams, and carriages at all seasons of the year." "The statute in question was passed long before bicycles were invented, but although, of course, it is not to be confined to the same kind of vehicles then in use, we are of opinion that it should be confined to vehicles ejusdem generis, and that it does not extend to bicycles." [Ejusdem generis--Latin meaning "of the same kind or class". A canon or construction that when a general word or phrase follows a list of specific persons or things, the general word or phrase will be interpreted to include only persons or things of the same type as those listed. For example, in the phrase horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, or any other barnyard animal, the general language "or any other barnyard animal"--despite its seeming breadth--would probably be held to include only four-legged, hoofed mammals (and thus would exclude chickens). Black's Law Dictionary 535 (7th Ed. 1999)] The court held the existence of bicycle paths and regulations applicable to the use of bicycle paths to be evidence that roads were not intended to be maintained for bicycles. "It is because ordinary roads are not considered suitable for bicycles that cities and towns are given the power by St. 1898, c. 351, to lay out, construct, and maintain paths for bicycles. And St. 1899, c. 474, makes it a misdemeanor to trespass upon a cycle path by driving thereon with a horse or other animal, except to cross the same." | ||||
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