Richardson v. Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners

Citations

• 77 Miss. 518

Syllabus

<p>Laws. Damage to property. Assessment. Constitutional law. Constitution 1890, sees. 17, 233. Laws 1865, p. 51. Laws 1884, p. 163.</p> <p>By section 17, constitution of 1890, it is provided as follows: “Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use except upoQ. due compensation being first made to the owner or owners thereof, in a manner to be prescribed by law;” and by section 233 of same instrument it is provided as follows: “The levee boards shall have, and are hereby granted, authority and full power to appropriate private property in their respective districts for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and repairing levees therein, and when any landowner or other person interested therein shall object to the location or building of a levee thereon, or shall claim compensation for any land that may be taken, or for any damages he may sustain in consequence thereof, the president, or other officer -or agent of such levee board or owner of such land, or any other person interested therein, may forthwith apply for an assessment of damages to which such person claiming same may be entitled, whereupon the proceeding as now provided by law shall be' taken.” Held, that the owner of land damaged.by the taking of the land of another, is entitled, under the foregoing constitutional provisions, to maintain the proceeding for the assessment of his damages provided for by the act of 1884 (Laws, p. 163), amendatory of the act of 1865 (Laws, p. 51), and that the “commissioners to assess levee damages,” provided for by said first mentioned act, have jurisdiction to hear and determine his claim. Vicksburg v. Herman, 72 Miss., 211, cited.</p>