Sharpe v. United States

• Decision Date: 10 January 1902
• Docket Number: 39.
• Parties: SHARPE v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

112 F. 893

SHARPE v. UNITED STATES.

No. 39.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

January 10, 1902

D. J Pancoast, for plaintiff in error.

David O. Watkins, for the United States.

Before ACHESON, DALLAS, and GRAY, Circuit Judges.

GRAY Circuit Judge.

Proceedings were instituted by the United States in the district court for the district of New Jersey February 1, 1900, for the condemnation of about 40 acres of land of the plaintiff in error, Edward S. Sharpe, situate in Salem county, in the state of New Jersey, contiguous to a certain reservation of the United States, upon which Ft. Mott had theretofore been built, which land, as stated in the petition filed by the United States, was 'needed for military purposes, for the location, construction, and prosecution of works for fortifications and coast defenses. ' They were authorized by the provisions of the act of congress of August 18, 1890 and of those of March 7, 1898, and March 3, 1899, making appropriations therefor. The act of August 18, 1890, provided that the proceedings for condemnation should be 'prosecuted in accordance with the laws relating to suits for the condemnation of property of the states wherein the proceedings may be instituted. ' These proceedings accordingly were begun under the authority of an enabling act of the legislature of the state of New Jersey, passed in February, 1900, and were prosecuted in accordance with the laws regulating the condemnation of lands in that state at the time this enabling act was passed. Pursuant to the requirements of the laws aforesaid, three commissioners were duly appointed by the judge of the district court for the district of New Jersey to appraise the value of the land in question. The commissioners so appointed made due report of their proceedings to the said district court, which report was filed July 16, 1900. By it it appears that they fixed the value of the 41.75 acres of land required to be taken for the purposes aforesaid at the sum of $20,875, and the damages sustained by reason of the taking of the said land 'to the remainder of the tracts of land from which the above-mentioned tract is taken, and to its uses, and which the parties in interest will sustain by reason of the premises,' at the sum of $12,953. From the finding of the commissioners so made an appeal was taken in behalf of the United States to the United States district court for the district of New Jersey. Pursuant to the requirements of the statute of New Jersey, the said appeal was prosecuted in the said district court, and an order framing an issue and fixing a day for the striking of a jury and a day for the trial of the appeal was duly made by the judge of said court. A venire was thereupon issued, with an order for view by the jury of the premises, and the matter came on for trial at the January term, 1901, of said court. After charging the jury, the court stated to them that by the consent of counsel they might bring in a verdict in a lump sum for the value of the land and the damages to the adjoining property. On March 11, 1901 judgment was entered of record, as follows:

'This matter coming on for trial at the January term, 1901, of this court, and being called, and both parties appearing, and the cause being moved by the said appellant, and a jury being impaneled and sworn, and having viewed the premises, and the evidence offered by the parties having been submitted, and the respective parties, by their counsel, being heard, and the judge having charged the jury, and the jury having retired to consider their verdict, come again into court, and say that they find and assess the value of the said lands and damages sustained at the sum of twelve thousand dollars, to be paid to the said Edward S. Sharpe, by the said appellant, for the value of said lands and damages sustained. And it is hereby ordered and adjudged that the said assessment by the jury aforesaid be, and the same is hereby, confirmed, and that the said Edward S. Sharpe is entitled to have from the said United States the sum of twelve thousand dollars for his said land and damages. Judgment signed this 11th day of March, A.D. 1901.'

Bills of exception to the rulings of the court in regard to the admission of testimony and to the charge of the court were duly sealed, and, together with the record of the judgment, have been brought before us by writ of error.

The first point of objection that arises out of the assignments of error is that the court overruled the defendant's offer to prove the probable use that the government would make of this land, and the further offer to prove that the use of this land for military purposes would injure and depreciate the value of Dr. Sharpe's remaining and adjoining land. We think the court were right in overruling these offers, on two grounds: First, the record discloses the fact that the land taken by these proceedings constituted one of three several tracts of land, consisting of three adjoining farms, owned by plaintiff in error, and held by different titles, and acquired at different times. The property first acquired was known as the 'Dunham Farm,' and was purchased in 1880, for $5,800, by Mrs Sharpe, wife of the plaintiff in error, and afterwards transferred to the plaintiff in error. The property in question, the subject of these proceedings, was purchased by plaintiff in error in 1891, and is known as the 'Gibbons Tract,' consisting of 41.75 acres and 22 acres of meadow. These 22 acres of meadow were not adjoining or a part of the tract known as the 41.75 acres, nor was it used in connection therewith, but was such a considerable distance away, and of so little value, that no attention was paid to it by either the plaintiff in error or the defendant upon the trial of the cause, either as to value or damages. The purchase price paid for this tract, with the house and farm buildings thereon, was $6,000. The third...