Abstract
In 1835, a horse-drawn cart full of mutton toppled over, breaking the thigh and dislocating the shoulder of the driver, and sparking off one of the most significant court cases in British legal history. Thomas Fowler, a Lincolnshire butcher, had ordered one of his employees to pack the cart before sending its ill-fated driver to market. Buckling under the weight of the load, the cart’s front axle cracked along the way, causing the vehicle to overturn. Charles Priestley, the injured driver, was then accompanied to the nearest inn, where he was treated by two surgeons. It took him almost five months to recuperate. Priestley’s expenses while unable to work proved costly, and his father supported him throughout this period.
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Notes
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Moses, J. (2012). Contesting Risk: Specialist Knowledge and Workplace Accidents in Britain, Germany, and Italy, 1870–1920. In: Brückweh, K., Schumann, D., Wetzell, R.F., Ziemann, B. (eds) Engineering Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284501_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284501_3
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