Under § 61 of the Motor Vehicle Act of 1921, a passenger riding in an automobile which is not legally registered, is not prohibited — as the owner is — from recovering damages for an injury sustained by him while the car is being operated on the highways of this State; although prior to the Act of 1917, the prohibition applied equally to passenger and owner.
WHEELER, C. J.
This case was tried with the companion case of Samuel Kaufman against the same defendants. The matters discussed in that case are equally applicable here, with a single exception. The prohibition of recovery for failure to have a motor-vehicle registered is limited to the owner of the vehicle by the provisions of Chapter 400, § 61, of the Public Acts of 1921. Prior to the Act of 1917, the same prohibition applied equally to the operator of the motor-vehicle and the passenger in the motor-vehicle. The present statute does not bar the plaintiff passenger from recovery for the failure of Kaufman, the owner of the motor-vehicle, to have had it registered. Shea v. Corbett, 97 Conn. 141, 147, 115 A. 694.