Linblom v. Ramsey

Citations

• 75 Ill. 246

Syllabus

<p>1. Highway—whether order for opening is fined. Where the county court, in a county not under township organization, after the report of the viewers had come in, passed an order approving of the report for laying out a road, except as to the land of a person named, which was not to be interfered with without damages were paid: Held, that the order was not a final one for the opening of the road, as the court had a right to abandon the proceedings if the damages when assessed were such as not to justify proceeding further, and the road being an entirety, no part could be opened without an order for opening the entire line.</p> <p>3. Where an order approving the report of commissioners to view and locate a road recited that the road passed over and took the hedge fence of a party on its line, and stayed proceedings until his damages were assessed and paid, and, ten years after, the road supervisor opened the road near such party’s land, and through the plaintiff's inclosed field, the court, in an action for damages, refused to allow the plaintiff to show that the other party’s hedge was in the line of the road, and instructed the jury that it made no difference whether the hedge was included in the line of the road or not: Held, that the court erred in excluding the evidence, and in the instruction.</p> <p>3. Same —justifying trespass in opening road. Where a road supervisor is sued for throwing down plaintiff’s fence and exposing his crops, he must show legal authority for doing the act, and it is error to instruct the jury that if they believe the defendant was acting within the scope of his duty as such officer when he opened the fence, to find for him, as it is calculated to mislead the jury.</p> <p>4. Same — opening without notice. Where the opening of a road was, in 1861, stayed by the county court until certain damages were assessed and paid, and no further action was taken until in June, 1871, when the road supervisor threw down plaintiff’s fences and expose