167 Pa. 6 | Pa. | 1895
Opinion by
The general principles relating to the exercise of eminent domain, and compensation to be made to those against whom it is directed, are very familiar though they seem at times to be forgotten. The power to take is a prerogative of the government. It is to be exercised only in the interest of the public. It may be granted to municipal and other corporations to promote such municipal improvements, and such business enterprises as are calculated to advance the general welfare. Private interests must give way when the public good requires it, and the power by which tins is compelled is that of eminent domain. Its exercise may sometimes involve inconvenience or positive hardship to the private citizen; but it is the state or its grantee, that enters and for a purpose that the government has deemed of sufficient general importance to make such entry justifiable. But the state or its grantee must make “just compensation ” for the property taken or destroyed. What is a just compensation in any given case may be said to be a mixed question of law and fact. The law provides a general formula. The jury applies this formula to the facts in each particular case. The just compensation is such a sum as shall equal the
The first assignment of error complains that this rule was' disregarded by the court below in the affirmance of the plaintiff’s first point. This point asked an instruction to the jury that “ in ascertaining the market value of the property in question if the jury find that its highest available use at the time of the taking was that of gas plant, they have a right; to consider the future growth of the borough of Spring City and Itoyersford, the increased demand for gas, as far as these considerations affect its market value; and if the jury further find that by reason of the location of the railroad through the property its availability has been curtailed, lessened or partly destroyed, they have the right to consider these questions as far as they affect the market value of the property as a whole immediately after the taking.” The affirmance of this point without qualification opened the door to conjecture upon subjects incapable of present ascertainment, and was calculated to confuse rather than aid the jury. It permitted them to conjecture the “future growth” of Spring City and Itoyersford without limit as to the distance to which their conjectures might extend. It then permitted them to conjecture an increased demand for gas to light the cities they 'had imagined to exist in “ the future; ” a demand so greatly increased that the company could not supply it with its present facilities, and such additional ones as the remainder of the land would enable it to provide; and that the company might then suffer loss' on account of its inability to meet such increased demand.
The fourth assignment of error requires some notice. It complains that the motion of counsel for defendant to strike out the whole of the testimony of John Slingluff was refused. Some portions of it ought to have been struck out, but some portions of it were admissible, and we cannot say it was error to refuse the motion as made. The assignment suggests the question however as to the extent to which expert testimony is competent in a case like this. One who is familiar with the value of land in the vicinity of the land taken might be offered as an expert upon that subject; but a knowledge of values in Philadelphia or Norristown would not qualify a witness to speak, as an expert, of values in Royersford. So a man might be familiar with the value and use of the appliances necessary to the production of gas, so as to be qualified to speak as an expert of the value and effectiveness of the machinery and fixtures used in any given gas works, but unless these are injured or their operation interfered with by the entry complained of, it is not easy to see what place there is for such an expert in the witness box. In this case the machinery and structures of the gas works were untouched. Its productiveness was not diminished in the slightest degree. There is still room within the inclosure to increase the capacity of the works, if an increase should become necessary; but up to the time of the entry by the defendant, and up even to the time of the trial in the court below, no such increase had been found necessary. The plaintiff had been deprived of one quarter of an acre of unoccupied land and of nothing more. Mr. Slingluff did not pretend to know the value of the land. He said: “I am not acquainted with the market value of real estate generally in the locality or the improvements. ... I can’t say that I know the value of any properties including improvements, in Royersford.” His expert knowledge related to machinery for producing gas and the process of manufacture, neither of which was involved in this controversy. But it is contended that inasmuch as the land taken was within the exterior lines of the tract owned by the plaintiff and upon which its gas works were situated it was therefore part of the gas plant. This is a non sequitur. The