Lewis County v. Gordon

Citations

• 20 Wash. 80
• 54 P. 779
• 1898 Wash. LEXIS 469

Syllabus

<p>DRAINAGE — VALIDITY OF CURATIVE ACT — STATUTES — TITLE AND SUBJECT MATTER — SPECIAL LEGISLATION —EMINENT DOMAIN—PUBLIC USE.</p> <p>The legislature may properly authorize payment in condemnation proceedings of expenses incurred in prior proceedings under a statute which was declared unconstitutional after such expenditures were made.</p> <p>The title of the act of March 19, 1895 (Laws 1895, p. 142), being “an act providing for the payment of expenses incurred in compliance with an act entitled ‘an act to provide for the construction, repairing and protection of drains and ditches for agricultural, sanitary and domestic purposes, and to provide for the organization of drainage districts,”’ is sufficiently comprehensive to cover the subject of assessments according to benefits upon lands drained in order to pay for right of way through same.</p> <p>An act providing “for the construction, repairing and protection of drains and ditches for agricultural, sanitary and domestic purposes, ana to provide for the organization of drainage districts,” is general, and not special, legislation.</p> <p>The construction of ditches for drainage of land otherwise useless for agricultural purposes is recognized as a public use.</p>