Warren v. City of Chicago
| Decision Date | 15 March 1887 |
| Citation | 11 N.E. 218,118 Ill. 329 |
| Parties | WARREN v. CITY OF CHICAGO. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Appeal from county court, Cook county.
Petition for rehearing. Modified opinion. For the original opinion, see 9 N. E. Rep. 883.
Frederick C. Hale, (M. W. Robinson, of counsel,) for appellant.
George M. Haynes and F. S. Winston, for appellee.
This is an appeal by Parker H. Warren from a judgment of the county court of Cook county, confirming a special assessment levied by the city of Chicago upon 32 lots belonging to appellant, and fronting on South La Salle street, in said city, for the purpose of constructing ‘water service pipes,’ to be laid from said lots, and connected with the main water-pipe in said South La Salle street. The appellant is a non-resident, and the property in question is vacant, and not in use for any purpose. One-half of the lots in question front on the east, and the other on the west, side of La Salle street; are 45 feet wide, 120 feet deep, and having an alley in the rear for an outlet. For the purposesof the assessment, each of these lots is divided east and west, the north portion being designated as the north half, and the south portion as the south half. As thus divided, each half lot, by the proposed scheme, is to be provided with and is assessed for one service-pipe. Each service-pipe on the west side of the street is estimated at $21.75, and on the east side at $28.35, making them cost, on an average, $25.05 a piece. At this rate the assessment amounts to $50.10 for a whole lot, or $1,603.20 for the 32 lots. It further appears that lots belonging to others, having a frontage of 25 instead of 45 feet, are, under the scheme adopted, to be provided with but one service-pipe for each lot, the cost thereof being the same as above stated; that is to say, $21.75 for lots on the west side of the street, and $28.35 for lots on the east side. It is objected that an ordinance which thus discriminates between the owners of property for the purposes of an assessment is unreasonable, oppressive, and unjust, and that for that reason is void. It is also claimed that, because the property in question is vacant, there is no use, public or private, for the improvement for which the property is assessed, and that the assessment is invalid on that ground. With respect to this last objection but little need be said. That incorporated towns and cities have the power to establish and maintain water-works within their corporate limits, and thus provide for the convenience, health, and public welfare of such municipalities, cannot be questioned. It is also equally well settled that they have a large and wholesome discretion in such matters, with the exercise of which courts have no right to interfere, except where such discretion is clearly about to be abused.
In the absence of any statutory provisions relating to the subject, it is for the corporate authorities to say in what streets the main and lateral service pipes shall be laid down, so as to bring the water within reach of the consumers. Their chief,...
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