Latah County v. Peterson

29 P. 1089, 3 Idaho 398, 1892 Ida. LEXIS 26
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 6, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 29 P. 1089 (Latah County v. Peterson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Latah County v. Peterson, 29 P. 1089, 3 Idaho 398, 1892 Ida. LEXIS 26 (Idaho 1892).

Opinion

MORGAN, J.

On or before the fifteenth day of July, 1890, a petition in due form was presented to the board of county commissioners of Latah county, praying for the establishment of a private or by-road over the lands belonging to the defendant, E. G. Peterson, described in plaintiffs complaint. On said fifteenth day of July, the board of county commissioners appointed three viewers, and directed that said viewers should meet on the fifth day of September, 1890, and view and survey and mark out said road, and estimate the damages accruing to nonconsenting land owners. The said viewers met as directed; surveyed and marked out the road; platted and mapped the same; made their report to said board, which thereupon ordered the road overseer to tender to defendant, who was a nonconsenting land owner, the sum of money awarded to him^ which sum the defendant refused to accept. Thereupon this suit was commenced. The cause was tried before the Honorable W. G. Piper, judge, and a jury. The jury assessed the damages accruing to defendant at $100. Judgment of condemnation was thereupon entered. Defendant appealed from said judgment to this court. The principal contention of the appellant is that the act of the territorial legislature, to wit, section 933 of the Revised Statutes of Idaho, is unconstitutional, for the reason that it attempts to take private property for private use. It is a general rule that the right of eminent [400]*400domain does not imply a right in the sovereign power to take the property of one citizen, and transfer it to another, even for a full compensation, where the public interest will be in no way promoted by such transfer. This doctrine, in the absence of any constitutional provision, is established by a long line of decisions not necessary here to enumerate. Among other decisions, the appellant cites Osborn v. Hart, 24 Wis. 89. The ■statute of Wisconsin authorized the laying out of private roads upon the application of any freeholder, such applicant to pay all damages and costs. To this was added by the same statute the further provision that “such 'private road, when so laid out, shall be for the use of the applicant, his heirs or assigns, .... nor shall the owner of the land through which such roads shall be laid out be permitted to use the same as a road, unless he shall have signified his intention of so doing, .... before the damages were ascertained.” The court held in above case that, inasmuch as the public could not use such road, and had no interest in it, and the owner of the land could not use it, the law could not be sustained. It will be noticed that our statute (section 933 et seq.) contains no such exclusive provisions, but a private road, when opened, can be used for any purpose to which it is adapted by the general public and by any individual thereof. In the same case the court say: “In some of the states it has been held that these roads, although termed 'private,5 yet were in fact public, roads, so far as the right to use them was concerned, and upon this ground the power of the legislature to authorize them to be laid out has been sustained.” (Osborn v. Hart, 24 Wis. 91, 1 Am. Rep. 161; Perrine v. Farr, 22 N. J. L. 356; In re Hickman, 4 Harr. (Del.) 580.) In the case of Witham v. Osburn> 4 Or. 318, 18 Am. Eep. 287, also cited by appellant, the court hold that private property cannot be taken for exclusively private use, whether compensation be made or not; but the court also hold that the legislature may provide for the establishment of private roads or “byways,” as they are termed in our statute, by providing that they shall be public instead of private roads, [401]*401and that they may be used by the public. It will be noticed that the decree of the court, in the case at bar,'directs that the said highway shall be opened for the use and benefit of the said P. N. Lunstrum, the applicant, and the general public, so that the decree itself provides that it shall be a public, as well as a private, road.

In Nesbitt v. Trumbo, 39 Ill. 110, 89 Am. Dec. 290, and Crear v. Crossly, 40 Ill. 175, the court hold that section 93 of the act of 1861 (Ill. Stats., p. 263) is unconstitutional, for the reason that it transfers the use of the land condemned to the person for whose use the road was established, his heirs and assigns, forever. The owner is deprived of its use, and the other acquires its use perpetually. For all practicable purposes, this amounts to a transfer of the land. It will be seen that this statute is very different from section 933 of the Revised Statutes of Idaho. The owner of the soil and the general public has as much interest in and the right to the use of such private road, as fully and completely, as the person upon whose application it is opened; and the effect would be that, if the use of the land for such purpose should cease, it would revert to the owner of the soil. In the two last-named eases Mr. Justice Lawrence, one of the most eminent jurists of his time, dissents from the opinion of the court, and giving his reasons, in Crear v. Crossly, he says: “If the government, after making a grant, owns all the surrounding lands, the grantee takes a right of way over the surrounding land to the public highway as an incident to his grant; and if the government retains the title to a tract of land, having sold the land surrounding it on every side, a right of way to a public road is reserved by implication. This right of way continues in both cases, both in favor of and against subsequent grantees, for it is a right created by operation of law, and from necessity, to enable owners to enjoy their lands. I consider our statute in regard to private roads as simply based on this common-law right, and regulating its exercise. The right existed before the act was passed, by the established rules of the common law in [402]*402regard to the construction of grants.” These reasons apply with equal force to our own statute, and in our opinion would be sufficient reason for upholding it, were there no other authority. There is abundant authority, however, for sustaining the statute in the decisions of the courts. Where the road, though laid out upon the application and paid for and kept in repair by a particular individual, who is especially accommodated thereby, is, in fact, a public road, and for the use of all who may desire to use it, then it is regarded as accomplishing a public purpose for which land may be condemned. (Lewis on Eminent Domain, sec. 167; Shaver v. Starrett, 4 Ohio St. 494; Ferris v. Bramble, 5 Ohio St. 109; Denham v. Commissioners, 108 Mass. 202; Sherman v. Buick, 32 Cal. 241, 91 Am. Dec. 577, and note, and cases there cited; Monterey County v. Cushing, 83 Cal. 507, 23 Pac. 700; Brock v. Town of Barnet, 57 Vt. 172.) The constitution (article 1, section 14) substantially recognizes the right of the legislature to provide for laying out private roads or byways, as follows: “The necessary use of lands for reservoirs or storage basins, for the purposes of irrigation, or for rights of way for the construction of canals, ditches, flumes or pipes, .... or any other use necessary to the complete development of the material resources of the state, .... is hereby declared to be a public use.” This provision is certainly sufficient to authorize the legislature to provide for the establishment of byways, or pentways, as they are sometimes called, or private roads, which are for the use of anyone who may desire to use them.

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

Related

In Re Interest of Forrester
836 A.2d 102 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
MacCaskill v. Ebbert
739 P.2d 414 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1987)
Continental Enterprises, Inc. v. Cain
387 N.E.2d 86 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1979)
Eisenbarth v. Delp
215 P.2d 812 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1950)
Codd v. McGoldrick Lumber Co.
267 P. 439 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1928)
Komposh v. Powers
244 P. 298 (Montana Supreme Court, 1926)
Road District No. 4 v. Frailey
145 N.E. 195 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1924)
Blackwell Lumber Co. v. Empire Mill Co.
155 P. 680 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1916)
Bashor v. Bowman
133 Tenn. 269 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1915)
Westport Stone Co. v. Thomas
94 N.E. 406 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1911)
Chesapeake Stone Co. v. Moreland
104 S.W. 762 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1907)
Latah County v. Hasfurther
88 P. 433 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1907)
Baillie v. Larson
138 F. 177 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Idaho, 1905)
Cunningham v. Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railway Co.
56 P. 502 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1899)
Towns v. Klamath County
53 P. 604 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1898)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 P. 1089, 3 Idaho 398, 1892 Ida. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/latah-county-v-peterson-idaho-1892.