This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Ps are the administrators of the estate of Everett A. Loucks. Everett was traveling on a highway in Massachusetts when he was run down and killed through the negligence of D's servants then engaged in its business. He left a wife and two children, residents of New York. A Massachusetts statute provides that 'if a person or corporation by his or its negligence, or by the negligence of his or its agents and servants while engaged in his or its business, causes the death of a person who is in the exercise of due care, and not in his or its employment or service, he or it shall be liable in damages of not less than $500, nor more than $10,000, to be assessed with reference to the degree of his or its culpability, or that of his or its servants, to be recovered in an action of tort commenced within two years after the injury which caused the death by the executor or administrator of the deceased; one-half thereof to the use of the widow and one-half to the use of the children of the deceased, or if there are no children, the whole to the use of the widow, or if there is no widow, the whole to the use of the next of kin.' P sued D in New York under the Massachusetts statute. D moved to dismiss claiming the statute was penal. The trial court allowed the suit to proceed. The appeals court reversed. Ps appealed.

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