Royse v. Evansville And Terre Haute Railroad Co.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1903
• Docket Number: 19,749
• Citation: 67 N.E. 446,160 Ind. 592
• Parties: Royse et al. v. Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad Company et al
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

67 N.E. 446

160 Ind. 592

Royse et al. v. Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad Company et al

No. 19,749

Supreme Court of Indiana

May 21, 1903

From Knox Circuit Court; O. H. Cobb, Judge.

Proceeding by John Royse and others for the construction of a ditch and levee. The Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad Company and others filed a motion to dismiss the proceeding, and upon the overruling of the motion the case was appealed. From the action of the circuit court dismissing the proceeding petitioners appeal.

Affirmed.

John Wilhelm, W. A. Cullop, G. W. Shaw, W. H. DeWolf and E. H DeWolf, for appellants.

J. E Iglehart, Edwin Taylor, J. W. Emison, W. W. Moffett and S.W. Williams, for appellees.

OPINION

Gillett, J.

Appellants filed in the office of the auditor of Knox county their petition showing that their lands would be "benefited or drained" by the straightening, widening, altering, and deepening of a certain watercourse, by the location and construction of a ditch, and by the establishing and building of a levee. It is alleged that the proposed drain is more than five miles in length, and that the construction of said work is necessary to drain and reclaim the land over which the same passes, as well as public roads thereon, and will be conducive to the public health, convenience, and welfare. The petition then sets forth the route and plan of the improvement petitioned for. The route of the proposed drain follows the general course of a stream or watercourse, known as the Duchee river, for some distance, and then extends south to White river. The course of the proposed levee is described in the petition as extending along the west side of said drain, and as near thereto as practicable, from the commencement thereof to White river, and from the latter point along the north shore of said river, following the meanderings thereof, to a point about two miles west of said drain. The petition affirmatively states that it is based on an act entitled, "An act concerning drainage under specified conditions, and declaring an emergency," approved March 7, 1891. Acts 1891, p. 455, § 5690 et seq. Burns 1901.

The petitioners filed a bond with their petition, as required by law, and the bond was duly approved. The board of commissioners appointed viewers, who reported favorably. This report was approved, and the board directed the viewers to lay out the work, assess the benefits and damages, etc. The viewers afterwards filed their second report, showing their doings in the premises, which report was subsequently approved by the board, and the work ordered established. While the proceeding was still before the commissioners, the appellees filed separate motions to dismiss the proceeding, for the reason, among others, that the court had no jurisdiction over the subject-matter thereof. These motions were overruled, appellees afterwards appealed, and renewed their motions in the circuit court, where they were sustained, and from the judgment of dismissal the appellants appeal.

Did the court err in dismissing the proceeding? The act in question does not, as do some of the drainage acts of the State, enact a rule of liberal construction, and as the proceeding involves a taking of private property by the power of government, the opposite construction must prevail. Lewis, Eminent Domain (2d ed.), § 254.

Statutes concerning the drainage of land ordinarily contemplate the removal of water therefrom by means of an artificial channel or trench. 10 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d ed.), 221; City of Valparaiso v. Parker, 148 Ind. 379, 47 N.E. 330. On the other hand, the word "levee" is defined as "An embankment intended to prevent inundation." Anderson's Law Dict. The word has also been defined as "An artificial mound of earth intended exclusively as a protection from overflow." 18 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d ed.), 838. If the construction of a levee is a work entirely foreign to the contemplation of the statute, the provisions of the enactment will not be extended to accomplish such purpose. Scruggs v. Reese, 128 Ind. 399, 27 N.E. 748. It is claimed that § 1 of the act in question is broad enough to authorize the construction of such a work. That section, omitting the enacting clause, is as follows: "That the board of commissioners of any county in the State of Indiana, are authorized at any regular or called session, to cause to be located and constructed, straightened, widened, altered, or deepened any ditch, drain or watercourse of the length of five miles and upward as hereinafter provided, when the same is necessary to drain any lots, lands, public or corporate roads, or railroads, or will be conducive to the public health, convenience or welfare. The word 'ditch,' used in this...