83 Miss. 534 | Miss. | 1903
delivered the opinion of the court.
The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta levee district comprises all of the northern counties of the state which are subject; to overflow from the Mississippi river. At the date of the filing of this bill appellee levee board maintained three distinct lines of levees: One beginning at the foothills near the northern boundary of the state, and extending southward along or near the bank of the Mississippi river; terminating near the bank of the river, about ninety and one-half miles from the upper terminus, about one mile below Rescue Landing, in Coahoma county, and near the edge of the basin known as “Lewis swamp.” This is called the “front line.” Another line of levee beginning at the south boundary of the district, extending northward, passing about five miles to the eastward of the lower terminus of said front line, and overlapping the same by continuing northeast to a point about twelve miles above said front line terminus. This is called the “back line,” or “Hus'hpuck-ena system.” Between these two lines there lies an extensive basin, known as “Lewis swamp,” through which drains the
There is no material conflict of fact between tbe two sides to this litigation, so far as relates to existing conditions in reference to tbe location of tbe levees and tbe lands involved. Tbe testimony shows tbat a part of tbe front line, from sec. 81 to its
■ On the hearing of the motion, the chancellor rendered a decree' partially dissolving the injunction, but which contained this provision: “The defendants are allowed to go forward with their work of construction and building of the levees in
The record here presents for consideration and decision the following questions: First, has the levee board the power to abandon one levee and construct another, located in a different place? If so, is its judgment and discretion in locating the new levee subject to review by the courts? Second, if vested with full power in building and locating new levees, has the levee board, under the facts of the instant case, the authority to use the proceeds of bonds by-virtue of chapter 83, p. 131, Laws 1902 ? Third, If the new levee can lawfully be built, what rights have complainants, and how may they be asserted ?
The determination of the first inquiry requires a consideration of chapter 168, p .140, Laws 1884, in which the powers, duties, and privileges of the board of levee commissioners of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta are stated. Section 4 of that act provides as follows: “That said board of levee commissioners of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta shall have power, and it is hereby made their duty to build, rebuild, strengthen, elevate and maintain the levee upon and along the Mississippi river front, in and through the counties of DeSoto, Tunica, and Coa-homa to the line of the levee now owned and maintained by the Mississippi levee district. They shall have' power to determine the base, height, slope and width of the levee; and they may abandon any portion of the old levee that they may regard as improperly built or unsafe, and may repair the old levees and build new levees on such ground as they may select, and may make all contracts for the work and all needful regulations and do all acts necessary to protect their said district from overflow by the waters of the Mississippi river. And they shall
The first contention of appellants is that the levee board having once adopted and established a line of levee, the power granted by the law has been exhausted and the levee board is now without power to relocate the levee, ,or to abandon any portion of the established line. In view of the generality and broadness of the terms employed in granting powers to the ap-
Again, it is said that whether the proposed taking of the land of complainants for levee purposes is for the public use is by section 11 of the constitution made a judicial question, and to
The building of the new levee being within the power of the board of levee commissioners, and the taking of the private property being judicially determined to be for a public use, the courts, will not" place judicial restraint upon the manner in which the board, in the exercise of its discretion, uses the- power providentially delegated to it by the- state. ■ It is for the: courts to determine that the proposed taking is for. a public use, but, this being so decided, it is for the commissioners to decide upon the-necessity of such taking. In re Fowler, 58 N. Y., 60; Call v. Town of Wilkesboro, 115 N. C., 337, 20 S. E., 468; C., R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Town of Lake, 71 Ill., 333; Waterworks Co. v. Burkhart, 41 Ind., 364; Smedley v. Erwin, 51 Pa., 445 ; Mining Co. v. City of Joplin (Mo.), 27 S. W., 406; Barrett v. Kemp, 91 Iowa, 296, 59 N. W., 76. Courts will interfere and review the exercise of the -discretion of those, to whom the power of eminent domain has been delegated by. the legislative enactment- only in exceptional cases — as when property is appropriated for private purposes under the guise of public use, or. if. the condemnation is sought for private gain,, or from willful or malicious purposes, or to injure or destroy the rights of other parties, or that they acted without warrant of law
The second inquiry presented by this record is as to the authority of the board of levee commissioners for the Yazoo-Mis-sissippi Delta to expend the proceeds of certain bonds which it is authorized to issue by.virtue of the provisions of ch. 83, p. 137, Laws 1902. Said act is entitled, “An act to authorize the board of levee commissioners for the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding $250,000, for the purpose of raising funds for high water emergencies, and for other purposes;” and section 3 thereof is in the following words: “Bonds to be sold for repair of levees. Sec. 3. The said board is authorized to sell the bonds, or any part thereof, whenever, by suitable resolution and order of the board, they determine that any part of the levees of said board is endangered by caving banks or high watet, and said board shall have power thereafter to make sale of the whole or any part of the bonds hereby authorized to be issued, but the said bonds shall not be sold for less than their face value, and when sold the proceeds thereof shall be used and expended by the said board for the purpose of protecting the territory embraced within the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta levee district from overflow, and to meet any and all emergencies that may arise, to protect the said district from danger during periods of high water on the Mississippi River, or to repair damages to the levees of said district caused by or threatened from crevasses, caving banks, or other unexpected casualties.’7 In pursuance of the requirement of said sec
The sole remaining question requiring consideration is what rights and remedies the complainants have, and how they can be asserted. There is no contention but that they are entitled to chie compensation for the value of all property taken and for all damages caused by the erection of the proposed levee, and there is no denial that this must be made before the property is in fact taken. As to this, appellants have a perfectly plain and adequate remedy prescribed by law, and the methods in which their right's may be asserted is clearly set out in section 233 of the constitution, and section 3 of chapter 168, p. 142, Laws 1884. Nor is the extent of their rights subject to doubt. It is true that they cannot recover damages from the fact alone that their lands are left outside the levee, and are therefore not protected from the high water. Recovery on this ground is expressly forbidden by section 238 of the constitution. This branch of the subject was most elaborately discussed in Richardson v. Board of Mis
We are of the opinion that the decree of the chancellor dissolving the injunction herein, and permitting the board of levee commissioners to proceed with the construction of the proposed new line of levee, was eminently correct. The safety of the entire district might be jeopardized by a delay in the prosecution of the projected work. 'But as levees are constructed for the sole purpose of protecting lands from overflow, and, in order to prove effective, must necessarily prevent the ingress of water, it follows that they must inevitably interfere with and obstruct the drainage of the lands immediately adjacent; and this has been, in express terms, recognized as an element of damage for which due compensation must be made.
From this record it appears that the proper construction of a levee necessarily entails the closing of all natural drainage which flows through or under the levee, and that the United States Mississippi Biver Commission, has officially condemned, and refused to assist in the maintenance of, any levee through which, by any device, the flow of wrater is permitted. It follows, therefore, that the clause in the decree permitting the board of levee commissioners to proceed with the construction of the levee only on condition that it did not “in any wise obstruct the drainage of
Tbe decree of tbe chancellor on direct appeal is affirmed, and .on cross appeal is reversed, and tbe bill is hereby dismissed, and appellants taxed with all costs in both courts.
Reversed on cross-appeal.