62 N.H. 347 | N.H. | 1882
The duties of selectmen inlaying out highways are principally judicial. The fact alone that they might deem the construction of a public way between two points necessary and convenient for the public travel would not authorize them to lay it out as a highway. Nor could the town authorize them, as its agents, to assume duties of that character. Haywood v. Charlestown,
The proper inquiry, therefore, is, whether the selectmen had jurisdiction to lay out and locate the way where the plaintiff received his injury. No notice of the petition and time and place of hearing was posted at the usual place of town-meeting, nor was a like notice or copy left with the town-clerk, as required by Gen. St., c. 233, s. 3. In State v. Richmond,
One condition ordinarily requisite to the legal exercise of judicial powers is the filing or issuing of a petition, writ, or other appropriate process, embodying a cause of action or complaint, whose adjudication is within the recognized authority of the tribunal. Eames v. Northumberland,
In Kimball v. Fisk,
In Tilton v. Pittsfield,
It cannot be said, as a matter of law, that the notice to the town (required by G. L., c. 75, s. 7) did not state the "exact place" where the accident occurred. This was a question of fact to be determined by the court at the trial term, who found the notice was sufficient. Nor can it be successfully claimed, under the circumstances of the case, that there was no sufficient evidence to support that finding. If the selectmen can with reasonable certainty and convenience determine from the notice the place where the damage was received, they are sufficiently informed, and the object of the statute is fulfilled. Larkin v. Boston,
Judgment on the verdict.
CLARK, J., did not sit: the others concurred.