State of Washington Ex Rel Grays Harbor Logging Company v. Logging Company
Decision Date | 06 March 1917 |
Docket Number | No. 132,COATS-FORDNEY,132 |
Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON EX REL. GRAYS HARBOR LOGGING COMPANY and W. E. Boeing, Plffs. in Err., v. LOGGING COMPANY |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. W. H. Abel and A. M. Abel for plaintiffs in error.
Messrs. William M. Smith, Alexander Britton, Evans Browne, and F. W. Clements for defendant in error.
The Coats-Fordney Logging Company, defendant in error, instituted a proceeding by petition in the superior court of the state of Washington for Chehalis county against Grays Harbor Logging Company and W. E. Boeing, wherein it sought to condemn and take certain of their lands situate in that county for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a logging railroad as a private way of necessity in order to bring its lumber to market. The proceeding was based upon the following provisions of the constitution and statutes of the state:
Section 16 of art. 1 of the Constitution declares: Under this constitutional provision the legislature passed an act (Sess. Laws 1913, chap. 133, p. 412; Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 5857-1 et seq.) which provides that lands for the construction and maintenance of a private way of necessity may be acquired by condemnation, including within the term 'private way of necessity' a right of way over or through the land of another for means of ingress or egress and the construction and maintenance of roads, logging roads, tramways, etc., upon which timber, stone, minerals, or other valuable materials and products may be transported and carried. The procedure is to be the same as provided for condemnation of private property by railroad companies. This refers us to Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 921-931 (5637-5645), whereby it is provided, in substance (§ 921), that any corporation authorized by law to appropriate land for a right of way may present to the superior court of the county in which the land is situate a petition describing the property sought to be appropriated, setting forth the names of the owners and parties interested, and the object for which the land is sought to be appropriated, and praying that a jury be impaneled to ascertain and determine the compensation to be made in money; a notice (§ 922) of the petition stating the time and place where it will be presented to the court is to be served upon each person named therein as owner or otherwise interested; (§ 925) at the hearing, if the court be satisfied by competent proof that the contemplated use for which the land is sought to be appropriated is really a public use, or is for a private use for a private way of necessity, and that the public interest requires the prosecution of such enterprise, and that the land sought to be appropriated is necessary for the purpose, the court may make an order directing the sheriff to summon a jury; at the trial (§ 926) the jury shall ascertain, determine, and award the amount of damages to be paid to the owners and other persons interested, and upon the verdict judgment shall be entered for the amount thus awarded; (§ 927) at the time of rendering judgment for damages, if the damages awarded be then paid, or, if not, then upon their payment, the court shall also enter a judgment or decree of appropriation, thereby vesting the legal title to the land in the corporation seeking to appropriate it (§ 929) upon the entry of judgment upon the verdict of a jury and award of damages the petitioner may make payment of the damages and costs of the proceeding to the parties entitled to the same by depositing the same with the clerk of the superior court, to be paid out under the direction of the court, and upon making such payment the petitioner shall be released from further liability, unless upon appeal the owner or other party interested shall recover a greater amount; (§ 931) 'Either party may appeal from the judgment for damages entered in the superior court to the supreme court of the state within thirty days after the entry of judgment as aforesaid, and such appeal shall bring before the supreme court the propriety and justness of the amount of damages in respect to the parties to the appeal.'
Plaintiffs in error opposed the petition for condemnation upon the ground, among others, that the Act of 1913 was contrary to the Constitution of the United States, and that petitioner sought to take their property for a private use, and therefore without due process of law, in violation of that Constitution. After hearing testimony upon the question of necessity, the superior court entered an order of condemnation, and by the same order set the cause down for trial before a jury for the purpose of determining and assessing the damages and compensation. At this point, and before the cause could be brought to trial before a jury, plaintiffs...
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