Enoch v. Spokane Falls & Northern Railway Co.

Citations

• 6 Wash. 393
• 33 P. 966
• 1893 Wash. LEXIS 306

Syllabus

<p>APPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC LANDS — RIGHTS OF PRE-EMPTION CLAIMANT — MEASURE OF DAMAGES — INSTRUCTIONS.</p> <p>The rights of a preemption claimant to public land of the United States are reserved by certain provisions of the act of congress of March 3,1875, entitled “An act granting to railroads a right-of-way through the public lands of the United States;” and where a railroad appropriates public lands upon which a preemption entry has been properly made prior to the filing of a profile of the road in the office of the secretary of the interior, the railroad is liable for damages.</p> <p>Where the only objection to an instruction is that it is too gen. eral in its terms, the proper practice is to move to make it more specific.</p> <p>Under the provisions of art. 1, §16 of the constitution, the measure of damages, where land is appropriated by a railroad for right-of-way purposes, is the fair market value of the land taken at the time of the appropriation, together with the amount of depreciation, if any, in the value of the land not taken, and these respective amounts should be ascertained without regard to any benefits that may have resulted from the construction, or proposed construction, of the railroad. (Northern, etc., R. R. Co. v. Coleman, 3 Wash. 234, overruled.)</p>