"Timing," "luck": The Gilders had that going for them in addition to "brains and drive." Their jurisprudential timing and luck were impeccable. "The way it was" legally in the Gilded Age personal responsibility for a man-made disaster did not lie unless direct personal negligence could be proved. The courts of the day rejected the English common law's "strict liability." As a consequence, although there were lawsuits against South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, Inc., and even those were unsuccessful ("Act of God"), no person, no individual club member, no Carnegie, Mellon, Frick or Clark(e) could be held even financially liable, much less criminally. That's just the way it was. Not one dime was ever collected from SFFHC or its members through legal process.*
T'aint the way it is now.
The Johnstown Flood occasioned a change in American law. Public outrage that neither the corporation nor its members were legally responsible for the disaster caused American courts to adopt the English strict liability standard. (So you see, the Gilders changed the law and we should thank them for that. Thank you.)Today, there is not a lawyer, legal scholar or judge who does not think that under strict liability, the club and its members would have had to pay. A lot. What would the consequences of that have been?**. The Gildings and their children and grandchildren would do well to think about that before making breezy, complacent statements about "the way it was."
*Many members sent charitable contributions. Thirty, out of 68, gave nothing.
**"It is even conceivable that some of those immense Pittsburgh fortunes would have been reduced to almost nothing." The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough, 259.
T'aint the way it is now.
The Johnstown Flood occasioned a change in American law. Public outrage that neither the corporation nor its members were legally responsible for the disaster caused American courts to adopt the English strict liability standard. (So you see, the Gilders changed the law and we should thank them for that. Thank you.)Today, there is not a lawyer, legal scholar or judge who does not think that under strict liability, the club and its members would have had to pay. A lot. What would the consequences of that have been?**. The Gildings and their children and grandchildren would do well to think about that before making breezy, complacent statements about "the way it was."
*Many members sent charitable contributions. Thirty, out of 68, gave nothing.
**"It is even conceivable that some of those immense Pittsburgh fortunes would have been reduced to almost nothing." The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough, 259.
