40 Mo. App. 527 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1889
This cause originated in the county court of Pettis county and arises on a petition for opening a new'road and tó vacate an old one. The petition was denied by the county court, and the petitioners appealed to the circuit court, where on a trial de novo the petition was granted as to the opening of- a new road, though no judgment appears in the record as to the vacation of the old road. A commissioner was appointed by the circuit court, and his report was approved by that court which, thereupon, with the aid of a jury, entered into a trial as to the damages to'those parties over whose land the proposed road ran who had not relinquished the right of way. The circuit court adjudged the road to be o£ sufficient public utility to justify the payment of the damages assessed. It ordered the road established, that the parties on its line give possession within six months and directed the road overseer to open the same at the expiration of that time. It - was further ordered that the county treasurer of Pettis county draw his warrant on the county of Pettis for the damages assessed as well as for the costs of the case.
Several questions relative to the sufficiency of the petition and the regularity of the proceedings have been presented, as also the further question of the right of the petitioners to appeal to the circuit court from the order disallowing the petition, since, if they had not the right, the circuit cQurt had no jurisdiction. The latter question will dispose of the case, and we will not notice
II. There is another view of the matter leading to the same result. Notwithstanding section 1102 gives the circuit courts appellate jurisdiction “from the judgments and orders of county courts * * * in all cases not expressly prohibited by law; ” and that section 1210 provides that, “in all cases of appeal from the final determination of any case in the county court,” there shall be a trial de novo, yet section 6967, Revised Statutes, 1879 (from which section 36, page 166, Laws 1883, is copied) provides that: “In all cases of appeals being allowed from the judgment of the county court, assessing damages, or for opening, changing or vacating any road, the circuit court shall be possessed of the cause and shall proceed to hear and determine the same anew ; but no commissioners shall be appointed by .the circuit court, nor shall any appeal prior to the determination thereof in the circuit court operate as a supersedeas of the proceedings in the county court.” Thus, this section of the road law permits appeals in certain specified cases ; the refusal of the petition for. a road not being one of them. By such enumeration of cases in which an appeal may be had the implication is clear that it is denied in other cases, even under section 1102, supra. Such was the ruling of the supreme court in a case quite applicable to this. Whitehead v. Stoddard County, 29 Mo. 138. All of the cases cited by respondent to which, we have had access are those falling directly under the provisions of the statute, section 6967, above quoted, and were not where the petition had been merely denied.
III. There is yet another reason which would lead to a denial of an appeal in this case. In the determination of a petition for a road, that is, whether a road is of sufficient public utility to require its opening and the payment of damages, the county court does not act in a judicial capacity. The refusal of the petition is not