151 Mass. 285 | Mass. | 1890
The first question presented by the report is whether the plaintiffs, by filing their petition under chapter 290 of the Acts of 1884, for the damages sustained by the taking of their lands under the authority given by that act, have admitted the validity of the taking, and thus waived any right by a proceeding such as that adopted in the case at bar to dispute the validity of the taking, and the constitutionality of the act assuming to authorize it.
This cause does not belong to that class of cases where the selection of one remedy necessarily implies that any other remedy, or any ground therefor, is waived. It certainly would be unjust if a party, who reasonably deemed that a statute by authority of which his property was taken was unconstitutional, should be compelled to elect whether he would seek for damages under the statute, and thus formally admit that this property was lawfully taken, or abandon any claim therefor, and rely solely on his remedy for an unlawful taking. As in statutes of the nature of that which we are considering, the time within.
The plaintiffs were entitled to have the question of the constitutionality of the statute determined, and under their petition for damages they were, by necessary inference, compelled in that proceeding to admit that it was constitutional. Pitkin v. Springfield, 112 Mass. 509. But the mere fact that they filed a petition for the purpose of saving their rights to damages if their view of the constitutionality of the statute proved erroneous, ought not to prevent them from having that question settled in another proceeding to which the inquiry was appropriate. Perhaps if they had voluntarily proceeded to judgment in their petition, — for the plaintiffs ought not to be allowed to experiment in order to ascertain what damages they might obtain before testing the constitutionality of the act, — certainly if they had collected the damages which had been awarded under such a petition, — it would be held that they had finally elected this as their remedy, and that they could not afterwards test the constitutionality of the statute to which they had thus given full assent. But the same effect should not be given to a petition filed only as a prudent precaution to guard their rights in a contingency that might thereafter arise.
In the case at bar, it appears that the plaintiffs, living at a distance from the Commonwealth, knew of the taking of their land only toward the expiration of the year limited by the statute for the filing of an application for a j ury to assess the damages ; and that they filed their petition hurriedly in order to protect such rights as they might have. While this took place in 1884, no answer to the petition was filed until 1886, nor was any movement made by either party for a trial of the petition until 1887, there having been negotiations between the parties
It is not contended by the plaintiffs that any requirement of the statute was omitted in the taking of their land, or that proper provision was not made for compensation to them, but they urge that the statute is unconstitutional, as the taking of the land which it authorized was not for a public use. While the determination of the Legislature is not conclusive that a purpose for which it directs property to be taken is a public use, it is conclusive, if the use is public, that a necessity exists which requires the property to be taken. In determining whether a statute is within the legitimate sphere of legislative action, all reasonable presumptions are to be made in favor of its validity, and it must be so regarded, unless it is shown to be otherwise by those who assail its constitutionality. Wellington, petitioner, 16 Pick. 87, 96. Opinion of Justices, 8 Gray, 21. Talbot v. Hudson, 16 Gray, 417. The purposes of the act as declared therein, its general structure, the nature of its provisions, its probable operation and effect, are all to be considered in determining whether it is a lawful exercise of legislative power.
If we examine the statute of 1884, we find that, while it was contemplated that the flats owned by the Commonwealth, when
Apparently the statute we are immediately considering was rendered necessary by the reluctance of other owners of flats to sell their property, or to join in the proposed improvement. The message of his Excellency the Governor to the Legislature in 1869, which has been made a part of the agreed facts,* is relied on by the plaintiffs to maintain their contention that the project which the Commonwealth entered into, and by reason of which their land was taken, was a mere land speculation. But while tliis message, as do the statutes referred to, contemplates that portions of the land reclaimed may be sold to advantage, it also urges that their reclamation will benefit the harbor of Bos
The plaintiffs offer no evidence that the declared purposes of the statute, or those fairly to be inferred from it, were not its real purposes. Even if it be true that the Commonwealth, as the result of the enterprise, expects to sell its lands to advantage, many enterprises of great public utility are of advantage to individuals. Boston & Roxbury Mill Co. v. Newman, 12 Pick. 467. Talbot v. Hudson, 16 Gray, 417. If lands are taken for a public use and for the benefit of the community, it is not of importance that individuals, or, as in this case, the Commonwealth, may derive incidental advantage therefrom.
The cases cited by the plaintiffs to the proposition, that, if a private use is combined with a public use in such a way that the two cannot be separated, lands thus taken cannot be said to be taken for a public use, do not affect the case at bar. No land is here taken for a private use, although an incidental and private advantage may arise from such taking for a public use.
Bill dismissed.