Pairier v. Board of County Commissioners of Itasca County
| Decision Date | 21 May 1897 |
| Docket Number | 10,458--(109) |
| Citation | 71 N.W. 382,68 Minn. 297 |
| Parties | LOUIS PAIRIER v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF ITASCA COUNTY |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
The board of county commissioners for Itasca county denied an application of Louis Pairier for damages by reason of the location of a highway upon his land. He appealed to the district court of that county. When appellant rested at the trial, his appeal was dismissed for the reason that he had failed to prove any right to damages. From an order of the district court, Holland, J., denying a new trial Pairier appealed. Reversed.
Order reversed.
Frank F. Price, for appellant.
Chester L. Pratt, for respondent.
The trial court erred when it dismissed this case at the conclusion of appellant's evidence. It is conceded that this dismissal was based upon the fact, as appeared from the proofs, that appellant's only right or interest in the land over which the public road in question had been laid out and established by the county commissioners was that of one who had made a homestead entry upon government land, had paid the requisite fees, obtained the receiver's receipt, and for more than two years thereafter had resided upon and cultivated the land under the homestead act and the rules prescribed by the land department. It also stands admitted that appellant had fulfilled all of the requirements of the law, and, as a homestead settler, was residing upon the land, when the commissioners laid out the road.
By means of an act entitled "An act relating to roads cartways and bridges," Laws, 1873, c. 5, the legislature systemized the various enactments upon the subject which had theretofore existed, and since then very few changes have been made. Section 39 provides for the assessment and award of damages to landowners sustained by reason of the laying out, alteration, or discontinuance of these roads. And the final paragraph expressly provides that, "for all the purposes of this act," any person living on United States land who has made his declaratory statement for the same in the proper land office shall be considered the owner of such land. Section 39 is now G. S. 1894, § 1821. By section 49 of chapter 5, supra, the act of 1873, county commissioners were authorized to lay out and establish county roads, the procedure being regulated by sections 50, 51, 52, 53, and 54. Section 49 is now in G. S. 1894, § 1838 while the other sections of the original enactment follow in regular order. In section 53, section 1842, is a proviso that all damages sustained by laying out or altering any county road shall be assessed by the county commissioners and paid by the county.
In section 57 of the original act, G. S. 1894, § 1855, was a prohibition as to the assessment of damages, "under the provisions of this chapter," to any person where the title to the land over which the road passed was vested in the state or the United States at the time of the location of the road, "excepting as otherwise provided in this chapter." This last section has application to all roads referred to in the original act, whether town, county, or state, and is not inconsistent in any way with the last paragraph in section 39, from which we have heretofore quoted. These sections are to be construed as parts of one act, and these provisions are easily reconciled and harmonized. All persons who have entered lands at the proper land office, and who are living upon the same are expressly...
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