Blakely v. Board of Sup'rs of Grenada County

• Decision Date: 14 January 1935
• Docket Number: 31526
• Parties: BLAKELY v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF GRENADA COUNTY
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

158 So. 483

171 Miss. 652

BLAKELY v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF GRENADA COUNTY

No. 31526

Supreme Court of Mississippi

January 14, 1935

Division B

1 HIGHWAYS.

Injunction enjoining board of supervisors from laying out and opening up public road held properly denied, since complainant had an adequate remedy at law under statute providing for review of proceedings of board on such matters (Code 1930, section 6345).

2 HIGHWAYS.

Where complainant's bill to enjoin board of supervisors from laying out and opening up public road did not show that road would enter complainant's lands or otherwise affect his interests, and it appeared that road had been laid out and paid for, complainant's bill held demurrable.

3 HIGHWAYS.

Private citizen whose rights are not invaded may not maintain bill to enjoin board of supervisors from laying out and opening up public road unless he procures from appropriate public authority leave to institute such suit in his own behalf and that of the public generally.

HON. N. R. SLEDGE, Chancellor.

APPEAL from the chancery court of Grenada county HON. N. R. SLEDGE, Chancellor.

Suit by W. P. Blakely against the Board of Supervisors of Grenada county. From a judgment sustaining a demurrer to complainant's bill of complaint, complainant appeals. Affirmed and remanded.

Affirmed and remanded.

W. M. Mitchell, of Grenada, for appellant.

Sections 6340 and 6341, Code of 1930, prescribe the method of laying out, and establishing new roads.

In the exercise of their authority the board acts are limited to the special statutory authority and every jurisdictional fact should appear affirmatively of record.

Craft v. DeSoto County, 79 Miss. 618; Morgan v. State, 79 Miss. 659; Ferguson v. Wilkinson Co., 149 Miss. 623.

It is the duty of the board and not that of the committee to determine the necessity of the road after hearing the parties, and this should be done before the committee is appointed.

Strahan v. Attala Co., 91 Miss. 529; Section 6356, Code of 1930.

The chancellor seems to have based his ruling sustaining the demurrer in this cause upon the idea that the complainant did not have such interest in this matter as to authorize him to seek the relief prayed for in his bill. But that he was in error as to this, and that he can maintain this suit, under his allegations that he was a landowner and taxpayer of the district in which this road is to be built, and will be compelled to pay out money unless the proceeding complained of is prohibited, in the way of extra taxes, is abundantly sustained by the decisions of this court in several cases.

Belzoni Drainage District v. Winn, 98 Miss. 359; Fitzhugh v. City of Jackson, 132 Miss. 585; Hathaway v. Munroe, 119 So. 149; Griffith's Chancery Practice, sec. 193; McKinney v. Adams, 95 Miss. 832.

S. C. Mims, Jr., of Grenada, for appellee.

The only limitation the Legislature has ever attempted to prescribe in regard to the establishment or changing public roads is section 6340, Code of 1930. This section is only applicable and controlling when the board of supervisors is proceeding to compel the private owner to yield right of way for public use.

Kinnare v. Gregory, 55 Miss. 612; Hamner v. Yazoo Delta Lumber Co., 100 Miss. 349; Henry v. Henderson, 103 Miss. 48; Womack v. Central Lumber Co., 131 Miss. 201; Burks v. Moody, 141 Miss. 370.

The petition and exhibits of the appellant disclose that the board of supervisors, acting within the jurisdiction given it by the constitution, accepted an easement granted to the county by the owners of the land to establish a public highway. The question as to whether or not the road was a public necessity or whether the same was practical, under the circumstances of this particular case, was a matter absolutely within, the sound discretion of the board of supervisors and not subject to review by any court.

OPINION

Ethridge, P. J.

The appellant, Blakely, filed a bill in the chancery court of Grenada county seeking to enjoin the board of supervisors from laying out and opening up a public road in said county challenging the sufficiency of the proceedings therefor, and alleging that he was a resident citizen, landowner, and taxpayer of said supervisors'...