Mitchell v. Thornton

21 Va. 164
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJuly 12, 1871
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Va. 164 (Mitchell v. Thornton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. Thornton, 21 Va. 164 (Va. 1871).

Opinion

Moncure, P.

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a supersedeas to a judgment of the Circuit' court of Carroll county, affirming a judgment of the County court of said county, establishing an alteration in a public road. The proceedings in the case were, in substance, as follows:

On the 5th of October 1868, on motion of William C. Thornton and James B. Crockett, viewers were appointed by the County court, to view the proposéd alteration and return their report to the court. „

[166]*166On the 6th of January 1869, the viewers-returned! their report; and it appearing that A. II. Mitchell, through whose lands said road will pass, if .altered as-proposed, objected to the location of the same through ianctsJ au<t claimed damages therefor, it was ordered that he be summoned to appear on the first day of the next term to siiow cause why such alteration should not be made ; which summons was accordingly awarded and executed.

On the 1st of February 1869,- said Mitchell appeared in obedience to the summons, and entered himself as-contestant to the application ; and on his motion, a writ .of ad quod damnum ivas awarded.

The writ was accordingly issued, and an inquest was taken and returned in pursuance thereof; in which inquest, the jury stated that the proposed alteration would be of no damage to said Mitchell if his land were taken therefor as proposed.

On the 4th of August 1869, the case came on to be heard, and sundry witnesses being examined,.and the court having fully- considered, as w’ell the report of the viewers and the inquest of the jufy, as the evidence adduced, was of opinion, that the said alteration should be made and established ; w7hich was accordingly ordered : and the applicants, Thornton and Crockett recovered their costs of Mitchell. Whereupon, the said Mitchell took an appeal, as of right, from the said judgment of the Comity court to the Circuit court.

On the 27th day of the same month, August 1869, the cause was docketed in the. Circuit court, and continued; aud on the 9th of September 1870, it came on to be heard in that court. But before the opening of this case upon its merits, sundry motions were made by the appellant, Mitchell, and overruled by the court. He moved as follows, to wit:

1st. To quash the order made by the County court appointing viewers;

[167]*1672dly. To quash the report of the viewers.

3rdly. To quash the writ of ad quod damnum, and the inquest of the jury returned in obedience to the same.

4thly. To set aside the verdict of the inquest, upon ' the ground that the same was made and founded in mistake and misapprehension ; and also upon the ground that one of the jurors was related to the wife of Crokett; one of the appellees : and the appellant offered witnesses to prove these facts. This motion, with the others, was overruled, on the ground that the record showed no objections to either the order, report of viewers, or the inquest of the jury, having been made in the County court. Thereupon, the parties announced themselves ready ; and the court held that the appellant should begin his case ; and a witness was introduced by him, and the questiou asked, “what damage the appellant -would sustain if the alteration of the road -was established as proposed ? ” Upon objection, this question was not permitted by the court to be answered; on the ground that the inquest of the jury was conclusive on the question of damage. The appellant then moved the court to set aside the inquest of the jury, on the ground of evidence discovered since the appeal ivas granted; and introduced a witness to sustain the motion ; but the court overruled it, and refused to hear the witness. And, thereupon, came sundry witnesses for each party, who being sworn and fully heard, and all the circumstances being considered, the court was of opinion that there was no error in the judgment of the County court, and affirmed the same with costs. And the court certified that all the testimony heard was upon the question of the convenience or inconvenience, to the public as well as individuals; and that the court refused to hear testimony on any other question, in reference to establishing said altei’ation, and excluded all the testimony offered by the appellant to prove that he sustained damage by such alteration, and [168]*168refused to permit him to prove that he sustained such damage. This certificate was*given, that it might have th*^ eff’ect a bill of exceptions taken by the appellant, To this judgment of the Circuit court, a supersedeas was awarded by a judge of this court, on the petition of the said appellant, Mitchell; and that is the case we now have to decide.

In the said petition there are several assignments of error, which we will now proceed to consider in the order in which they are assigned. These errors, in the, words in which they are assigned, and our views in regard to each of them, are as follows :

1st. 4 ‘ The court erred in refusing to quash the order of the County court appointing viewers.”

The Code, ch. 52, § 6, directs viewers to be appointed “to view the ground and report to the court the conveniences and inconveniences that will result, as well to individuals as the public, if such road, &c., shall be as proposed; and especially whether any yard, gardeu, orchard, or any part thereof, will in such case have to be taken.”

The order in this case was, that the persons named as viewers, “being first duly sworn for that purpose, do view a proposed alteration of the Dry Spur road” (describing it,) and “ return to the court a report of such ■ view in the manner prescribed by law.”

It would have been more formal, and therefore better, to follow the termas of the law in the order. . But we think the order substantially and sufficiently conforms to the law. In directing the viewers “to return to the court a report of such view in the manner prescribed by law,” the terms of the law seem, in effect, to be embodied in the order.

“ 2d.' The cour,t' erred in refusing to quash the report of the viewers, and overruling appellant’s motion to do so.”

The duties of the viewers are prescribed in ch. 52, § 6 of the Code, providing -for their appointment as above [169]*169mentioned. The 7th section, which speaks only of “the' ■commissioner acting under the preceding or the 4th section,” may also be applied to viewers, so far as it is • properly applicable to them. It directs, among other things, that the commissioner “ shall particularly report the facts and circumstances in his opinion useful in enabling the court to determine the expediency of establishing or altering the road,” &c. “He shall report the names of the land owners on such route, and state which of them require compensation, the probable amount' thereof, and any other matter which he may deem pertinent. A map or diagram of such route shall be returned with his report.”

Two objections are made to the report of the viewers in this case : 1st, that it is not made on oath, although the order of court appointing'them expressly required it to be so made ; and 2dly, that it is defective in not stating all the circumstances connected with the alteration, “It simply says it will shorten the distance ; but whether the road will pass over a precipice, a swamp, or any thing else, it is altogether silent.”

As to the 1st objection, though the former law, 2 Rev. Co. of 1819, ch.

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Bluebook (online)
21 Va. 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-thornton-va-1871.