Henry Bigelow Williams v. Herbert Parker
Decision Date | 23 February 1903 |
Docket Number | No. 116,116 |
Citation | 47 L.Ed. 559,188 U.S. 491,23 S.Ct. 440 |
Parties | HENRY BIGELOW WILLIAMS and Charles F. Ayer, Trustees, Plffs. in Err. , v. HERBERT PARKER, Attorney General of Massachusetts |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
On May 23, 1898, the legislature of Massachusetts passed the following act:
Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1898, chap. 452.
The building of plaintiff in error comes within the scope of this statute, and on September 17, 1898, the attorney general of Massachusetts filed an information in the supreme judicial court of that state to enjoin the maintenance of that part of the building above the 90-foot line. To this information the defendants pleaded, among other things, that 'the statute, . . . in its application to the defendants, . . . is in violation of the 2d clause of § 1 of the 14th Amendment, and of other provisions of the Constitution of the United States.' Pending this proceeding, the defendants commenced actions against the city of Boston for damages, as provided in §§ 3 and 4 of the statute. The city filed a general denial. The defendants then moved that the attorney general be required to join the city as a party defendant, in order that the question of the city's liability to damages might be conclusively determined in this proceeding, or, in default of such joinder, that it be stayed until the city's liability could be conclusively determined. This motion was denied, and the defendants appealed from the denial thereof. The facts were agreed upon, and the case reserved by the presiding justice for the consideration of the full court. Upon March 13, 1901, a decree was entered, sustaining the contention of the attorney general, and directing a removal of those parts of the building above the height of 90 feet, without prejudice, however, to the right of defendants under the statute to maintain such steeples, towers, etc., as the board of park commissioners of the city of Boston should approve. 174 Mass. 476, 47 L. R. A. 314, 55 N. E. 77. To review such judgment this writ of error was sued out.
Messrs. Albert E. Pillsbury and Grant M. Palmer for plaintiffs in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 493-498 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Edmond A. Whitman and Samuel J. Elder for defendant in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 498-502 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:
Counsel for plaintiffs in error state in their brief that 'the single question in the case is, substantially, whether it is consistent with due process of law for a court to decree the actual destruction of property under a statute of eminent domain by which the state takes certain rights in it, making provision for compensation only by giving the owners a right of action against a city for their damages, while the city, which had no part in the taking, denies the validity of the provision for compensation, upon which the validity of the taking depends, and...
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