City of Kansas v. Morse

105 Mo. 510
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 15, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 105 Mo. 510 (City of Kansas v. Morse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Kansas v. Morse, 105 Mo. 510 (Mo. 1891).

Opinion

Black, J.

This proceeding was commenced before the mayor of the City of Kansas to condemn property for street purposes. The important facts are these :

An ordinance approved on the seventh of October, 1887, provided for op'ening Main street from Twentieth street to the Grand boulevard. It established the width of the street and fixed the boundaries of the benefit district. Pursuant thereto the mayor made an order for a jury to assess damages and benefits, and the proceedings were continued from time to time. While the proceedings to condemn were pending, the mayor, as party of the second part, made two contracts in the name of [514]*514the city bearing date May 23, 1888, one with the Kansas City Belt Railway Company, and the other with Adams, Thayer and Morse, whereby the parties of the second part relinquished the land owned by them, sought to be condemned, on condition of exemption from payment of benefits and on certain other conditions. Afterwards and on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1888, the common council passed an ordinance which is in these words : “That the mayor be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept from the Kansas City Belt Railway Company and Charles F. Adams, Nathaniel Thayer and C. F. Morse the relinquishment of the land necessary for the opening of Main street as provided by ordinance * * * approved October 7, 1888, and to accept and bind the City of Kansas to keep and comply with the terms and agreements contained in said relinquishment.”

Thereafter the mayor impaneled a jury, and on the fourteenth of June, 1888, the jury returned a verdict. This verdict describes the parcels of land owned by the Belt Railway Company, Adams, Thayer and Morse, and allows them $1 as damages for each parcel taken, and assesses them with 81 for benefits on each'parcel not taken. The verdict also assesses full damages in favor of, and benefits against, various other parcels of land owned by other persons. On the same day the mayor addressed a communication to the council saying: “I herewith submit for your consideration the proceedings and verdict taken and had by the City of Kansas under ordinance * * * approved October 7, 1887.” On the twenty-seventh of June, 1888, the common council passed an ordinance confirming “the verdict and proceedings” so reported to them. Thereafter four property-owners, not before named, took the proceedings to the circuit court by appeal.

The transcript filed in the circuit court did not contain the contracts of relinquishment before mentioned, nor did it contain the ordinance of May 28, authorizing [515]*515the mayor to accept the same. The Belt Railway Company, Adams, Thayer and Morse made proof of the existence of these contracts and the ordinance, but the circuit court declined to order them up as part of the record, when requested so to do, and refused to permit them to be introduced in evidence, and proceeded to assess damages and benefits, disregarding the contracts and ordinances. Prom these rulings the railway company, Adams, Thayer and Morse appealed.

1. It is sought to justify these rulings on the ground, among others, that the mayor and the contracting parties did not pursue the method pointed out by the charter.

According to section 4 of article 7 of the city charter, when one or more owners of property to be taken shall propose to relinquish such property without claims for damages, on condition of exemptions from payment of benefits, the mayor may be authorized to compromise and agree with such persons as equity may seem to require, “and proceed to condemn such other property as may not be relinquished, '* * * and report his proceedings to the common council, anything contained.in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.”

Section 5 provides: “ The mayor shall, after the rendition of the verdict, report the same, together with the proceedings under the last section to the common council ; and, if the same be not confirmed within sixty days from the making of such report, the proceedings and verdict shall be void,” etc. Appeals are to be taken within twenty days from the time the verdict is confirmed by the council.

As the relinquishments bear date the twenty-third of May, 1888, it is insisted the mayor had no authority to bind the city when he signed them. From the ordinance passed on the twenty-eighth of May, 1888, it is very clear that these contracts had then been prepared, and were before the council; for the ordinance authorized the mayor to accept them and bind the city “to [516]*516keep and comply with the terms and agreements contained in said relinquishment.” Prom the language just quoted it would seem the mayor had not yet signed the prepared contracts, and that he signed them after the passage of that ordinance and in accordance with the terms thereof. This being so, the objection is without any force. But we do not regard it as a matter of any consequence whether he signed the agreements before or after the ordinance was passed ; for, if they were signed before, the ordinance ratified the act of the mayor in signing them. As the council had the power under the charter to authorize the mayor to accept relinquishments, that body could ratify such contracts made by him before authority given. 1 Dill. Mun. Corp. [ 4 Ed. ] sec. 463.

2. The next objection to the relinquishments is that the mayor did not report them to the council, and that the council did not confirm his act in taking them. The charter provides that the mayor, being authorized by the council so to do, may accept proposals of property-owners to relinquish property for street purposes without claim of damages, on condition of exemption from payment of benefits. The agreements made by him are to be reported to the council with the verdict, and if not confirmed then the whole proceedings are void. Now the mayor in his report did not make special mention of these contracts ; but he did say, “I herewith submit for your consideration the proceedings and verdict taken and had, ” etc. The ordinance of June 27, 1888, confirmed the “verdict and proceeding” so reported. This language used by the mayor in his report is broad enough to include these relinquishments. It was not necessary that he should have made a more particular mention of them. It was sufficient that he reported them with the verdict.

We think the mayor’s report and the ordinance of confirmation comprehend and include his action in accepting these contracts. This conclusion is not overthrown, but rather confirmed, by an examination of [517]*517the verdict reported by the mayor. Though this verdict shows that three or four parcels of land owned by Adams, Thayer, Morse and the Belt Railway Company were condemned, still the damages were assessed at $1 for each parcel, and the benefits to the other lands of these parties were assessed at a like amount. The jury in the circuit court, where these contracts were disregarded, assessed the value of the same property taken at something over $31,000. The nominal amount of damages allowed and benefits assessed in the mayor’s court shows clearly enough that the agreements were considered, both by the jury in the mayor’s court, and by the council when confirming that verdict.

But, aside from all this, it is clear that these very contracts of relinquishment were before the council on the twenty-eighth of May, and were approved by that body at that time.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

St. Louis Housing Authority v. Evans
285 S.W.2d 550 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1955)
State v. Miller
92 S.W.2d 1073 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)
City of St. Louis v. Rossi
64 S.W.2d 600 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1933)
State Ex Rel. State Highway Commission v. Haid
59 S.W.2d 1057 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1933)
City of Kansas City v. Napiecek
92 P. 827 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1907)
Stauffer v. Cincinnati, Richmond & Muncie Railroad
70 N.E. 543 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1904)
St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad v. Knapp-Stout & Co.
61 S.W. 300 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1901)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 Mo. 510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-kansas-v-morse-mo-1891.