Pecot v. Police Jury

Decision Date01 July 1889
Docket Number1,338
Citation41 La.Ann. 706,6 So. 677
CourtLouisiana Supreme Court
PartiesA. A. PECOT ET AL. v. POLICE JURY, PARISH OF ST. MARY
OPINION

FENNER, J.

ON APPLICATION FOR REHEARING.

This application assigns to our decision in this case a much broader meaning and effect than it involves under a proper construction of its terms.

We have simply reversed the judgment maintaining exceptions going to the entire dismissal of action, and have remanded the case to be proproceeded with according to law.

This does not mean a determination that the Act 103 of 1873 is constitutional in all its provisions, or that the plaintiffs are entitled to the whole relief asked by them.

The petition alleges "that the Teche is a navigable stream bordered by alluvial lands, and its banks and shores owe a servitude to the public for roads and levees," and that "the proprietors on the east side of the bayou along its whole course in the parish of St. Mary fence up and close at will roads and pathways over which the public have travelled."

This suggests a particular right and a particular relief to which plaintiffs may be entitled under the Act, and which would certainly not encounter the grave consequences suggested in counsel's brief, nor any constitutional objection.

As to such acts it is held that they must be executed in so far as they do not violate constitutional rights and restrained in so far as they do. In re Douglas, 41 Ann.

We have simply remanded the case to be tried on the merits, and after decision thereon, if appealed to, we will determine the extent to which the act is valid and the measure of the relief to which plaintiffs are entitled.

Rehearing refused.

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