2 Mass. 143 | Mass. | 1806
* The opinion of the Court was delivered by [ * 146 ]
After considering the several points made in this cause by the counsel, we are satisfied that the question submitted must be decided according to the legal construction of the act incorporating the proprietors of this turnpike. We are not prepared to deny a right in the General Court to discontinue, by statute, a public highway. It is an easement common to all the citizens who are represented in the legislature. The authorizing of the erection of bridges over navigable waters is, in fact, an exercise of a . similar right. We are also satisfied that the rights legally vested in this, or in any corporation, cannot be controlled or destroyed by any subsequent statute, unless a power for that purpose be reserved to the legislature in the act of incorporation
There is an implied reservation m every legislative grant, that the property or right granted may be taken for the public use, when public necessity or utility re quires it, paying therefor a reasonable compensation. — Puff book 8, c. 5, § 7. — Presb. Church vs. City N. Y. 5 Cowen, 541, 542. — Stuyvesant vs. The Mayor N. Y. 7 Cowen, 604, 605. — Beckman vs. S. & S. Railroad Co. 3 Paige, 72, 73. — Providence Bank vs. Billings & Al. 4 Peters, 563 — Vanderbilt vs. Adams, 7 Con. 749.