Boom Co. v. Patterson

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that highest and best use should be “viewed not merely with reference to the uses to which [the land] is at the time applied, but with reference to the uses to which it is plainly adapted”
• stating that the task of commissioners appointed to appraise the value of condemned land was “not a suit at law in the ordinary sense of those terms”
• the right of eminent domain is an attribute of sovereignty and is not dependent on authority conferred by the Constitution
• in some instances, a departure from the unit rule may be necessary to avoid grossly unjust results
• utility company may exercise delegated eminent domain power over private property for public use
• “When the use is public, the necessity or expediency of appropriating any particular property is not a subject of judicial cognizance.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).