Todd v. Kankakee & Illinois River Railroad

Citations

• 78 Ill. 530

Syllabus

<p>1. Right of way—compensation to the owner in case of condemnation— how far damages a/nd benefits to be considered. Under the Eminent Domain of 1853, the owner of land taken by a railroad is entitled to compensation, at all events, to the extent of the value of the land taken, without any deduction for benefits the land may receive from the location or construction of the road; but such benefits may be set off against any damage the land may sustain by the construction of the road.</p> <p>3. Same—benefits to one piece of land, can not be set off against damages to another. The damage done to one piece of land, through which a railroad is run, can not be compensated by benefits accruing to another and separate piece of land through which it does not run, although belonging to the same person.</p> <p>8. Where a town had been laid out into blocks and streets for many years, and the same had always been recognized, treated and dealt with by the owners and the people as blocks and streets so laid out, such blocks should be treated as distinct tracts of land for the purposes of assessing damages done by a railroad running through any of them, although the plat of the town may not have been made according to the statute.</p>