St. Louis v. Mitchell
| Decision Date | 31 January 1868 |
| Citation | 47 Ill. 165,1868 WL 4952 |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
| Parties | ST. LOUIS, JACKSONVILLE & CHICAGO RAILROAD COMPANYv.ISAAC MITCHELL. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
APPEAL from the Circuit Court of McLean county; the Hon. JOHN M. SCOTT, Judge, presiding.
This was a proceeding instituted by the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad Company, to obtain the right of way across certain lands owned by Isaac Mitchell. The proceedings were commenced by petition to a justice of the peace who appointed three commissioners to assess any damages which might accrue thereby. The commissioners assessed the damages at $700. An appeal was taken by Mitchell to the McLean Circuit Court on the amount of damages, and trial had thereon. The cause was tried by a jury, and a verdict for $3,974.00 and judgment on the verdict. The defendant brings the cause to this court on appeal, and makes, as the real point in issue, the additional damages assessed by the jury, for erecting and maintaining the fences running along the line of the road and through the plaintiff's farm. The defendant offered to prove, that at the time of the trial they were in the act of building the fence; that the lumber and posts were on the ground, the contract let, and that the work would be done in about two weeks. This testimony was excluded on the trial, and the defendant desires to have the whole question, of the right of the plaintiff to recover damages at all, for fencing, reviewed by this court.
Messrs. WILLIAMS & BURR, for the appellants.
Mr. W. H. HANNA, for the appellee.
It was held in the case of T. & P. R. R. Co. v. Unsicker, 22 Ills., 223, that the cost of erecting and maintaining a fence was a proper element of damages in condemning land for railway purposes. The same principle was applied in R. Island & Alton R. R. Co. v. Lynch, 23 Ills., 645. These cases must be considered as settling the construction of the statute. The 2d section of the law of 1855 in regard to fencing railways, evidently contemplates that the cost of fencing may be assessed as damages, and when these damages are paid, the company may maintain an action against the owner if he neglects to fence, and this obligation becomes a covenant running with the land.
But it was also held, in the case of the Jacksonville & Savanna R. R. Co. v. Kidder, 21 Ills. 134, that in assessing damages for the condemnation of land, the plans of the company for the construction...
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St. Louis v. Nicholas Hurst.
...of the land through which it ran might render necessary and proper. J. & S. R. R. Co. v. Kidder, 21 Ill. 132; St L., J. & C. R. R. Co. v. Mitchell, 47 Ill. 165. And what are the proper elements to be considered in assessing damages must depend upon the circumstances of each particular case.......
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East Side Levee & Sanitary Dist. v. Jerome
...had a right to offer the resolution in evidence. Jacksonville & Savanna Railroad Co. v. Kidder, 21 Ill. 131;St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad Co. v. Mitchell, 47 Ill. 165;Hayes v. Ottawa, Oswego & Fox River Valley Railroad Co., 54 Ill. 373;Peoria & Rock Island Railway Co. v. Birket......
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Schwallback v. Chi., M. & St. P. Ry. Co.
... ... Rep. 335, 118 Mass. 156;Hazlett v. Sinclair, 76 Ind. 488, 40 Amer. Rep. 254; Easter v. Railroad Co., 14 Ohio St. 48;Railroad Co. v. Mitchell, 47 Ill. 165;Duffy v. Railroad Co., 2 Hilt. 496; Blain v. Taylor, 19 Abb. Pr. 228;Kellogg v. Robinson, 6 Vt. 276;Morse v. Garner, 47 Amer. Dec. 575, ... ...
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Elgin, Joliet & E.R. Co. v. Fletcher
...May, 1888. The sum assessed is quite large, and it cannot be said that we can see that this error did not affect the amount. Railroad Co. v. Mitchell, 47 Ill. 165. Other objections are urged because of the mode of argument pursued upon the trial by the attorneys for appellees, but, as it is......