Beard v. Town of Henniker
| Decision Date | 16 March 1900 |
| Citation | 70 N.H. 197,46 A. 738 |
| Parties | BEARD v. TOWN OF HENNIKER et al. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Exceptions from Hillsboro county.
Action by Eva M. Beard against the towns of Henniker and Hillsboro. Prom a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendants bring exceptions. Sustained.
December 31, 1896, the joint boards of selectmen of the defendant towns laid a highway across the petitioner's land, and assessed her damages. She took an appeal, both from the laying out and from the assessment of damages. At the September term, 1897, she amended by striking out the appeal from the lay-out. Subsequently the towns voted to discontinue the highway, and filed a petition to procure the assent of the court thereto. That petition and the one in this case were referred to the commissioners for the counties of Merrimack and Hillsboro. They reported that the highway ought to be discontinued; that the plaintiff's damages, (1) assuming that the highway was to be built, were $275, and (2) assuming that it was to be discontinued, were $90; and (3) that the plaintiff suffered no special damage by reason of the discontinuance of the highway not suffered by the general public. The highway was not built. As laid out, it followed a private way. Prior to the laying out, the travel over this route was permissive. Since then there has been no change either in the kind or amount of travel, except that it has not been permissive. The court ordered the discontinuance of the highway, and judgment for the plaintiff for $275, and the defendants excepted.
Burnham, Brown & Warren, for plaintiff. Oliver E. Branch and Samuel W. Holman, for defendants.
WALLACE, J.In actions for damages for laying out or altering a highway after it has been discontinued, "only the actual damages shall be recovered." Pub. St c. 71, § 9. The first enactment on this subject was in 1842, and reads as follows: "That in all actions to recover damages awarded for land taken for highways, that have been discontinued or which shall be discontinued previous to the final trial of such action, the party prosecuting shall not have or recover in debt or damages, any greater sum than the amount of the actual loss or damage he may have sustained, any award of damages before made to the contrary notwithstanding." Laws 1842, c. 669, § 1. The substance of this act has been embodied in every revision of the statutes since then. Rev. St c. 52, §§ 4, 5; Gen. St. c. 64, § 9; Gen. Laws, c. 70, § 9; Pub. St. c. 71, § 9. Before its passage the landowner could recover the full amount of the damages awarded him, although his...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Edgcomb Steel of New England, Inc. v. State
...laid out and later discontinued before being built, the landowner was held entitled to no more than his actual damage. Beard v. Town of Henniker, 70 N.H. 197, 46 A. 738. The record discloses no taking before that of May 14, 1954 when the commission filed its return of a taking of 200 feet o......
-
Hill v. State
...by the plaintiff would have arisen. Edgcomb Steel of New England, Inc. v. State, supra, 100 N.H. 485, 131 A.2d 70. Cf. Beard v. Town of Henniker, 70 N.H. 197, 46 A. 738; Thurston v. Alstead, 26 N.H. It thus appears that in its practical application (Niemi v. Boston & M. Railroad, 87 N.H. 1,......
- Eastburn v. Vliet.