Ellis v. Rock Island & Mercer County Railroad

Citations

• 125 Ill. 82
• 17 N.E. 62
• 1888 Ill. LEXIS 1072

Syllabus

<p>Eminent domain—measure of compensation—as to improvements made under a supposed right. The holder of a mortgage, in possession of the mortgaged premises, the debt being equal to the value of the land, authorized a railway company to enter and construct its road-bed, depot building, side-tracks, etc., over the same, agreeing to make a deed for the land so taken when his title should be perfected. It subsequently turned out that the superior title was in another, and the company sought to obtain title by condemnation against the latter: Held, that the holder of the title to the land was not entitled to be paid the value of the improvements so made in good faith under supposed right, by the railway company, in addition to the value of the land taken.</p>