135 Minn. 436 | Minn. | 1917
Eelator sued out a writ of certiorari from the district court of Chippewa county to review a resolution of the city council of the city of Montevideo laying out and attempting to establish an alley over and across his property. The writ was quashed and the proceeding dismissed
Two questions are presented, namely: (1) Whether an adequate remedy by appeal is provided for and given by the city charter; and (2) whether the resolution laying out the alley was a final order which may be reviewed on certiorari.
This is the only provision of the charter to which attention has been called having any bearing upon the question, and it seems clear that the appeal there provided for is inadequate, for it is expressly limited to the question of damages and benefits. Neither the regularity of the proceeding, nor questions going to the authority and jurisdiction of the city council to adopt the resolution, can be raised thereon. The provisions granting the appeal are not broad enough to include such questions. Mundwiler v. Bentson, 128 Minn. 69, 150 N. W. 209.
The provisions of the charter conferring upon the city council the right to condemn and take private property for a public use, and under which the proceedings in question were conducted (section 3 of chapter 10), provide in substance and effect that whenever the council shall determine that it is necessary to take any private property for public use, it shall declare the same by resolution, and state therein the nature of the
It will be noted that the authority and jurisdiction of the city council, the only body authorized to condemn the property, and to direct the taking thereof, ends abruptly with the passage of the resolution to that effect, and the appointment of commissioners to assess the damages and benefits. Though the council might recall its action, after the adoption of the resolution and before the completion of the assessment by the commissioners, it is clear that the commissioners cannot do so, and the resolution remains unaffected by the subsequent proceedings in the assessment of damages, except as a completion of the improvement thereby ordered. It is true that the resolution, under the provisions of the Constitution prohibiting the taking of private property for public use without compensation first paid or secured, can have no validity as authorizing an actual taking of the property unless supplemented by the assessment and award of damages. But in view of the peculiar provisions of the charter in question the work of the commissioners in that respect must be held and treated as details in the completion of the project, with the resolution as the final act of expropriation. Clay v. Pennoyer Creek Imp. Co. 34 Mich. 204. The resolution is therefore reviewable on certiorari. Grinager v. Town of Norway, 33 Minn. 127, 22 N. W. 174; State v. District Court of Jackson County, 134 Minn.
Judgment reversed.