Commissioners of Highways v. Durham

Citations

• 43 Ill. 86

Syllabus

<p>1. Opening of highways—damages to be adjusted. The fifty-sixth section of the township organization law of 1861 imperatively requires the commissioners of highways to adjust the question of damages to the owners of land before opening a road across it.</p> <p>2. Same — damages, how adjusted. The question of damages must be satisfactorily adjusted by release or assessment, or in some other recognized mode, before an owner can be forcibly dispossessed of his property. The act of 1861 does not require the owner to be present and claim damages, as by the old law he was required, but the commissioners, in case they and the owner cannot agree, must assess them at what they may deem just and right, and deposit a statement of the amount assessed with the town-clerk, who shall note the time of filing the same.</p> <p>3. Same—former decision modified. The decision of the court in the case of Taylor v. Marcy, 25 Ill. 518, on this subject is modified.</p> <p>4. Chancery—injunction. An attempt to open a road in the absence of an adjustment of the question of damages with the owner of improved and cultivated lands, upon which the road is located, will be restrained by a court of chancery.</p>