Alabama & Vicksburg Railway Co. v. Bloom

Citations

• 71 Miss. 247

Syllabus

<p>1. Railroads. Appropriation of streets. Compensation to abutting owner.</p> <p>A railroad company, even under license from the municipality, cannot construct its track along a public street of a city without first making compensation for any consequent damages to abutting owners, and this whether the fee of the street be in the owner or in the public. Stowers v. Telegraph Co., 68 Miss., 559.</p> <p>2. Same. Compensation for property damaged. Constitution 1890, § 17.</p> <p>Section 17, constitution 1890, enlarges the previous rule on the subject, in that it provides that private property cannot be taken or damaged for public use except on due compensation first being made to the owner.</p> <p>3. Same. Measure of damage to abutting owner.</p> <p>In an action by the abutting owner against a railroad company, resulting from the appropriation of a street for a switch, it is proper to instruct that if the construction and maintenance of the switch and the uses to which it is devoted by defendant, render the ordinary use and occupation of the property physically uncomfortable to plaintiff, he is entitled to recover such damages as will compensate him for the consequent discomfort and inconvenience, if any, he has suffered in the enjoyment of his property.</p> <p>4. Same. Damages when natural and necessary. Constitution 1890, ? 17.</p> <p>The railroad company cannot escape liability under ? 17, constitution 1890, merely because the damages to such abutting owner are only such as necessarily and naturally arise from the proper management and conduct of its trains on said track.</p>