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23 Mich. L. Rev. 114 (1924-1925)
Rights of Action under Death and Survival Statutes

handle is hein.journals/mlr23 and id is 140 raw text is: RIGHTS OF ACTION UNDER DEATH AND SURVIVAL STATUTES By BOWN E. SCHUMACHtR* U PON the injury of a person by the wrongful act of another and his death subsequent to and as a result of the injury, it would seem at a glance that there has been two wrongs done. First, there is the wrong to the injured person, giving rise to an action of tort against the wrongdoer, and secondly the injury to the relatives who, by the death, are deprived of support or financial contribution from the decedent. At common law the right of action accruing to the person before his death, i. e. the action for the tort, abated at the death of the person injured and could not be brought or revived after death.' Furthermore the common law did not recognize any cause of action accruing to the relatives of the injured person. The killing of another, or his death as a result of an injury tortiously inflicted, did not give rise to a cause of action in favor of his estate or those dependent upon him.2 A confusion of the underlying principles of modern statutes which give these rights and actions, and an apparent inability to dis- tinguish between the rights thus given has developed a state of the law which could well be described as chaotic. It is the purpose of this article to attempt to examine, criticize and distinguish the many and seemingly conflicting decisions upon this subject. The former rule that the personal action abated, probably found its basis in the common law idea that causes and rights of action are personal and that actions could only be brought by the person injured. The cause of action continued, but there was no one cap- able of asserting it. It is hardly open to doubt, however, that the refusal to allow an action by the estate or dependents for the death *Of the Chicago, Illinois, Bar. 1TIIANY, DEATH BY WRONGFUL AcT, 2nd ed., §i. 2Mobile Life Insurance Co. v. Brame, 95 U. S. 754, 756; The Harrisburg, i19 U. S. 199, 204. The most frequently quoted statement upon this subject is that of Lord Ellenborough in Baker v. Bolton, x Campbell 493, that In a civil court the death of a human being cannot be complained of as an injury.

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