James Govern v. City of New York

• Citation: 33 S.Ct. 876,57 L.Ed. 1228,229 U.S. 363
• Decision Date: 09 June 1913
• Docket Number: No. 15,15
• Parties: JAMES P. McGOVERN, Plff. in Err., v. CITY OF NEW YORK
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

229 U.S. 363

33 S.Ct. 876

57 L.Ed. 1228

JAMES P. McGOVERN, Plff. in Err.,

v CITY OF NEW YORK.

No. 15.

Argued and submitted November 8, 1912.

Decided June 9, 1913.

Messrs. Edward A. Alexander, George Gordon Battle, J. J. Darlington, and Jerome H. Buck for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 364-369 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Louis C. White, William McM. Speer, and Archibald R. Watson for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a proceeding for the taking of land to be used for a reservoir to secure an additional supply of water for the city of New York. Commissioners were appointed, as provided by the Constitution of the state, to ascertain the compensation to be paid. Land belonging to the plaintiff in error, McGovern, was among the many parcels taken, and the question brought here arises on the refusal of the commissioners to admit certain evidence as to the exceptional value of the land for a reservoir site, the exclusion of which, it was alleged, had the effect of depriving McGovern of his property without due process of law, contrary to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The offer of proof as first made embraced many facts and covers six octavo pages of the record. This was rejected, the commissioners, as we understand their ruling, considering it only as a unit, and as containing inadmissible elements, which probably it did. The offer then was made 'to prove the fair and reasonable market value of this piece of property, taking into consideration that element of value which gives it an enhanced value because it is part of a natural reservoir site;' also 'to prove the fair and reasonable value of the Ashokan reservoir site which the city of New York is now condemning,' and that the Ashokan reservoir site (as a whole) was the best and most available site for the purpose of obtaining an additional water supply. These offers were enough to raise the question discussed, although the last one was only a reiteration of what was alleged in the original petition for the taking of the land, and stood admitted on the record. The action of the commissioners was affirmed by the courts of New York. 130 App. Div. 350, 356, 114 N. Y. Supp. 571, 575, 195 N. Y. 573, 88 N. E. 1132.

The statute requires the commissioners to determine 'the just and equitable compensation which ought to be made.' If there has been any wrong done it is due not to the statute, but to the courts having made a mistake as to evidence, or at most as to the measure of damages. But of course not every judgment by which a man gets less than he ought, and in that sense is deprived of his property, can come to this court. The result of a judgment in trover, at least, if satisfied (Lovejoy v. Murray, 3 Wall. 1, 18 L. ed. 129; Miller v. Hyde, 161 Mass. 472, 25 L.R.A. 42, 42 Am. St. Rep. 424, 37 N. E. 760), is to pass property as effectually as condemnation proceedings; yet no one would contend that a plaintiff could come here under the Constitution simply because of an honest mistake to his disadvantage in laying down the rule of damages for conversion. If the plaintiff could bring such a case to this court, one might ask why not the defendant for a mistake in the opposite direction that will deprive him of money that he is entitled to keep?

When property is taken by eminent domain, it equally is recognized that there must be something more than an ordinary honest mistake of law in the proceedings for compensation before a party can make out that the state has deprived him of his property unconstitutionally. A. Backus Jr. & Sons v. Fort Street Union Depot Co. 169 U. S. 557, 575, 576, 42 L. ed. 853, 861, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 445. As it is put in the case most frequently cited in favor of the right to a writ of error, 'we are permitted only to inquire whether the trial court prescribed any rule for the guidance of the jury that was in absolute disregard of the company's right to just compensation.' And again, the final judgment of a state court 'ought not to be held in violation of the due process of law enjoined by the 14th Amendment unless by the rulings upon questions of law the company was prevented from obtaining substantially any compensation.' Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226,...