Green v. Elliott

86 Ind. 53
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1882
DocketNo. 9496
StatusPublished
Cited by66 cases

This text of 86 Ind. 53 (Green v. Elliott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Elliott, 86 Ind. 53 (Ind. 1882).

Opinion

Bicknell, C. C.

Petitions were filed before the county board for the opening of two highways. On the presentation of the petitions the appellant appeared and moved to dismiss them for insufficiency in the description of the route, as to its beginning, course, termination and length. These motions were overruled. Viewers were appointed in each case, who reported in each case that the highway was of public utility, and would run through the appellant’s enclosure of more than one year’s standing, and that a good way could not otherwise be had, and that they had laid out and marked the roads thirty feet wide, fifteen feet on each side of the lines described in the petitions. The appellant filed a remonstrance in each case, alleging that the road would not be of public utility, but • making no question as to enclosures. The board then appointed reviewers in each case, who, in each case, reported that the road would not be of public utility. . After the return of these reports the appellant filed in each case a petition asking for damages. The board in each case refused to open the highway and refused to appoint viewers to assess damages. This was a final judgment. ■ The only remedy of a party aggrieved thereby was by appeal. Doctor v. Hartman, 74 Ind. 221.

The appellee, who was one of the petitioners in each case, appealed in each case to the circuit court.

On the docket of the circuit court the causes- were numbered 2273 and 2274, and it was agreed that they should be' tried together by a jury, with separate verdicts. The jury found a verdict for the appellee in each case, with $40 damages for the appellant in No. 2273, and $430 damages for the appellant in No. 2274. With their verdict they returned interrogatories and answers as follows:

“1. Will the location of a public.highway upon the route designated as No. 2 be of public utility ? Ans. Yes.” (This referred to the highway in No. 2274.)
[55]*55“2. Will the location of a public highway upon the route designated as No. 3 be of public utility ? Ans. Yes.” (This referred to the highway in No. 2273.)
“3. Did Green open the way designated as No. 6 intending fo dedicate it to the public? Ans. Yes..
“ 4. Did the public accept such dedication ? Ans. No.”

The appellant moved for a venire de novo, and assigned ten reasons therefor. This motion was overruled. The appellant then moved for a new trial. This motion was overruled. Judgments were rendered in accordance with the verdicts, and directing that the causes be remitted to the county board “ to carry out the judgments of the court and the findings of the jury.” This was a proper form of judgment on such findings. Board, etc., v. Small, 61 Ind. 318. The appeal was then taken to this court. The errors assigned are:

1. Overruling the motions for a venire de novo.

2. Overruling the motions for a new trial.

3. Rendering judgments on the verdicts over the appellant’s objection.

Of the ten reasons for a venire, the first is, that the verdict does not purport to contain all the material facts given in evidence on the trial. The seventh is, that the jury did not lay out and mark the said highways, or either of them, on the best ground not running through any person’s enclosure of more than one year’s standing. The eighth is, that the jury did not find whether or not the said highways, or either of them, would run on the line dividing the lands of two individuals, and if so, that each should give half of the road. The ninth is, that the jury did not find whether or not a certain highway designated as No. 6 had been dedicated to public use or not. The tenth is, that the jury did not, in its verdict, give a full description of the location of said highways, or either of them, by metes and bounds or courses and distances.

None of the foregoing reasons are sufficient for a venire de novo. A venire de novo is granted when the verdict, whether general or special, is imperfect by reason of some uncertainty [56]*56or ambiguity, or by finding less than the whole matter put in issue, or by not assessing damages. 2 Tidd Pr. 922 ; Gould Pl. 526; Bosseker v. Cramer, 18 Ind. 44. None of these matters are presented by said first, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth reasons. The second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth reasons alleged for the venire de novo all have reference exclusively to the question of enclosures, which the appellant claims was put in issue in these proceedings. He says in his brief: “ The court will observe that the question whether the proposed highways would run through enclosures of more than a year’s standing is variously stated in the motion;. but, theoretically, all amounting substantially as stated in the fifth reason.”

Under this presentation, the fifth reason only is to be considered. It is as follows:

“ The jury did not find that the said proposed highways, or either of them, did or did not run through the enclosures of any person of more than a year’s standing at the time the petitions were filed; and, also, that the owners of said enclosures had consented thereto; or, if they did not consent, that a good way could not otherwise be had.”

If the question of enclosures was not put in issue,” the verdict was not defective; a verdict ought not to find more than the issues.

The question is, what is put in issue ” on an appeal to the circuit court in a proceeding to open a highway ? The issues may be different in different cases; in some, important matters may have been expressly admitted; in others, important matters may have been waived; in others, nothing may have been either admitted or waived. The highway act grants an appeal to anybody aggrieved by the decision of the county board, but provides no mode of trial; 1 R. S. 1876, p. 533, section 26; and the courts have held that a highway appeal is governed by section 36 of the commissioners’ act, 1 R. S. 1876, p: 357, and must be heard, tried and determined as an original cause.” It would seem that this means the appeal must be tried as an original cause, and the appeal is taken from [57]*57the decision of the court below upon the matters put in issue and tried there; but the appellant claims the meaning to be, that in the circuit court the proceedings and proof of the petitioner must be the same as before the county board. This proposition can not be maintained. Many things are required before the county board which can not be done in the circuit court; viewers and reviewers can not be appointed in the circuit court; nor can the jury be sent out to locate the road and mark it on the best ground.”

In such a case, if section 36 of the commissioners’ act, supra, is applicable to highway appeals, it should receive a reasonable construction. The object of such an appeal is to give the party a trial in the appellate court of all the controverted facts.

Facts expressly admitted, or matters, the objections to which have been waived, or have not been controverted in the lower court, ought not, upon general principles, to be investigated again in a proceeding where a literal construction of section 36, supra,

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Bluebook (online)
86 Ind. 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-elliott-ind-1882.