97 Neb. 220 | Neb. | 1914
Plaintiff instituted this action in the district court for Grant county, for the purpose of having certain land disconnected from the village of Hyannis. Upon a full hearing after issues joined, his petition was dismissed for want of equity. From this judgment he appeals.
The statute under which plaintiff proceeded is section 8978, Ann. St. 1911, which provides that, if “justice and equity require that such territory, or any part thereof, be disconnected from such city or village,” the district court shall enter a decree accordingly. The law upon the question involved is well settled in this state. In Village of Wakefield v. Utecht, 90 Neb. 252, we held: “In an action to annex additional territory to a village, the burden is upon the village to establish by sufficient averments and evidence that the territory sought to be annexed will be benefited by the annexation, or that justice and equity require that such territory he annexed.” By analogy the holding must necessarily he.that, in an action to disconnect territory, the burden is upon the petitioner to establish by sufficient averments and evidence that justice and equity require that such territory be disconnected. In Chapin v. Village of College View, 88 Neb. 229, we held that a judgment of the district court in a proceeding to exclude territory from the boundaries of a municipal corporation will not be set aside on appeal, unless it is made to appear that the trial court committed an important mistake of fact, or made an erroneous inference of fact or of law. On page 231 will he found a citation of former decisions of this court to the same effect.
Plaintiff purchased the land, which he now seeks to have disconnected, about five years prior to the commencement of this action, which was several years after the incorporation of the defendant, so that he purchased it with full knowledge that it was within the limits of the village.
In the light of the above facts, the district court very properly dismissed plaintiff’s petition for want of equity.
Affirmed.