McCoy v. Union Elevated Railroad

Citations

• 247 U.S. 354
• 38 S. Ct. 504
• 62 L. Ed. 1156
• 1918 U.S. LEXIS 1918

Syllabus

<p>The contract clause relates to legislative, not to judicial, action im-. pairing obligation of contracts.</p> <p>In an action for damages to abutting property due to construction, maintenence and operation of an elevated railroad, in a street of which the fee was in the public, the state court held that recovery depended upon the effect on market value, in determining which increase of such value arising from increase of travel should be considered and treated, as a special benefit, though enjoyed also by . other neighboring property. Held, that there was no basis for invoking the equal protection clause, and that the ruling did not deprive of property without due process of law.</p> <p>Where private property is taken for public purposes, the fundamental right guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment is that the owner . shall not be deprived of the market value Under a pile of law. which makes it impossible for him to obtain-just compensation. There is no guarantee that the rule adopted by the State shall be the 'one - best supported by reason ór authority, or against mere errors in the course of the trial,</p> <p>It is almost- universally held that, in arriving at the amount of damages to property not taken, allowance should be made fpr peculiar and individual-benefits conferred upon it, arid it cannot be said that extension of the rule to include increase of market value resulting directly from the public improvement where all property in the’ néighborhoód is similarly benefited deprives of .the fundamental right protected by the Amendment.</p>