13 Minn. 38 | Minn. | 1868
By the Court As stated- by the plaintiff’s counsel in his brief, “un this case, a building was torn down and destroyed to prevent the spreading of a conflagration in
I. —The municipal corporation — the city- — -could do nothing through its officers, or otherwise, except what was authorized by the charter; and upon an examination of the charter, we are unable to discover any grant, to the city, or to the officers, of authority expressed or to be implied, to tear down and destroy buildings to arrest the progress of a fire; nor do we find in the enumeration of the purposes for which ordinances may be passed, any mention of the-subject, or any general language in which it might be comprehended. It follows, that if the officers of the city directed the act complained of, they acted upon their own .responsibility, without official authority, and the city is not holden for the consequences from the fact that they were its officers, even if they assumed to act in their official character.
II. —As to the other branch of the counsel’s proposition —that the city is liable if the act complained of was do^ae »“by the citizens and bystanders of their own motion” — if the city is liable under such a state of facts, this liability, not
Russell vs. Mayor of New York, was a case in which an action was brought against the city upon an allegation, (as stated by Mr. Justice Bronson), that the property of the plaintiff had been taken' for public use by the 'defendants, the Mayor and Aldermen. .The property consisted-of merchan-, dize which was destroyed, under the order of the Mayor and
III. — It is, however, contended by the plaintiff’s counsel, that the destruction of the building was a taking of private property for public use, and that, therefore, the owner is entitled to compensation from the public. The opinion of Ch. J. Nelson, in Mayor vs. Lord, 17 Wend., 285, referred to by counsel in support of this position, is certainly not very explicit or positive on this point, while the opinion of Senator Verplanek, in 25 Wend. 172, is decidedly against the view taken by the counsel. In Russell vs. Mayor, c&c., supra, Mr. Justice Bronson remarks, that it is said, “that the plaintiff may have an action by virtue of the seventh section of the seventh article of the constitution, which provides that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. Without going much at large into this question,
With this view of a question which goes to the foundation ,of this action, it is of course unnecessary to consider the other points presented by counsel. The order denying the motion for a new trial is reversed.