Department of Public Works and Bldgs. v. Ells
| Decision Date | 23 January 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 36404,36404 |
| Citation | 23 Ill.2d 619,179 N.E.2d 679 |
| Parties | The DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND BUILDINGS, Appellant, v. Lawrence H. ELLS et al. (The Board of Education of Big Hollow School District et al., Appellees.) |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
William G. Clark, Atty. Gen. , for appellant.
J. E. Bairstow, Waukegan, for appellees.
The question in this case is whether the General Assembly has authorized the Department of Public Works and Buildings to condemn school district property for highway purposes. The circuit court of Lake County held that such authority had not been granted to the Department and dismissed its petition to condemn the school property. The Department has appealed directly to this court. Ill.Rev.Stat.1961, chap. 47, par. 12.
The Department's petition was based on section 4-501 of the Highway Code, which authorizes it to acquire, by purchase or by eminent domain, 'any land, rights, or other property necessary for the construction, maintenance or operation of State highways.' (Ill.Rev.Stat.1961, chap. 121, par. 4-501.) It contends that this provision authorizes it to acquire school property by eminent domain. We think that the trial court properly rejected this contention.
The proposition that a general grant of the power of eminent domain does not authorize the condemnation of property already devoted to a public use is well established. It was applied in Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railroad Co., 122 Ill. 473, 13 N.E. 140, where one railroad sought to condemn the property of another; in City of Moline v. Greene, 252 Ill. 475, 96 N.E. 911, 37 L.R.A.,N.S., 104, where the city sought to condemn the property of a public library board for street purposes, and in City of Edwardsville v. County of Madison, 251 Ill. 265, 96 N.E. 238, 37 L.R.A.,N.S., 101, where the city sought to condemn, for street purposes, a strip of land through the county poor farm. See also, 1 Nichols, Eminent Domain, 3rd ed., sec. 2.2(1).
Where the legislature has intended to confer the power to condemn property already devoted to a public use, it has done so explicitly. The Illinois State Toll Highway Commission, for example, is authorized to acquire by eminent domain 'any real or personal property (including road building materials and public lands, parks, playgrounds, reservations, highways or parkways, or parts thereof, or rights therein, of any person, railroad, public service, public utility, or municipality or political subdivision) necessary or convenient for its authorized purpose.' (Ill.Rev.Stat.1961, chap. 121, par. 314a32.) That statute further provides: 'Where property owned by a municipality or political subdivision is necessary to the construction of an approved toll highway, if the Commission cannot reach an agreement with such municipality or political subdivision and if the use to which the property is being put in the hands of the municipality or political subdivision is...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Department of Transp. of State of Ill. v. Callender Const. Co.
... ... a highway connecting Springfield and Quincy was necessary for the public good. See Wade v. Kramer, 121 Ill.App.3d 377, 381, 76 Ill.Dec. 890, 459 ... Department of Public Works & Buildings v. Keller, 61 Ill.2d 320, 324, 335 N.E.2d 443, 447 (1975) ... Department of ... Page 1203 ... Public Works & Buildings v. Ells, 23 Ill.2d 619, 621-22, 179 N.E.2d 679, 680 (1962). The law conferring ... ...
-
State Highway Commission v. Greensboro City Bd. of Ed., 704
...Land, etc., 7 Cir., 252 F.2d 354; United States v. Certain Parcels of Land, D.C., 175 F.Supp. 418. In Department of Public Works and Buildings v. Ells, 23 Ill.2d 619, 179 N.E.2d 679 (1962), the Supreme Court of Illinois held that the State Department of Public Works and Buildings had no aut......
-
City of Joliet, an Ill. Mun. Corp. v. Mid-City Nat'l Bank of Chi.
...of eminent domain power does not authorize the taking of property that is already devoted to a public use. Dep't of Pub. Works & Bides, v. Ells, 179 N.E.2d 679, 679 (Ill. 1962). New West/New Bluff argue that ET is already subject to a public use, that of providing affordable housing, and th......
-
MCI WORLDCOM COMMUNICATIONS, INC. v. Metra Commuter Rail
...Medical Center Comm'n v. Powell, 124 Ill.App.2d 123, 131, 260 N.E.2d 261 (1970), quoting Department of Public Works & Buildings v. Ells, 23 Ill.2d 619, 620-21, 179 N.E.2d 679 (1962). Such a legislative grant of eminent domain power can be exercised only in the manner authorized by statute. ......