Case Name: Bohlman vs. Green Bay & Minnesota Railway Company
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Wisconsin
Decision Date: 1876-01
Citations: 40 Wis. 157
Docket Number: 
Parties: Bohlman vs. Green Bay & Minnesota Railway Company.
Judges: 
Reporter: Wisconsin Reports
Volume: 40
Pages: 157–173

Head Matter:
Bohlman vs. Green Bay & Minnesota Railway Company.
EMINENT DOMAIN: RAILROADS: CONDEMNATION. (1) WJlCtt “ jllSt COm'pensation” for land includes. Charter construed. (2) Requisites of ,order appointing commissioners of appraisal, (3, 4) Effect of railroad law of 1872 on condemnation proceedings. (5) Right of eminent domain delegated to corporation to be strictly pursued. (6,7) Oath of office . of commissioners of appraisal. (8) Effect of railroad laio of 1874.
Injunction: (9) To restrain construction of railroad on land not duly condemned.
1. A provision in defendant’s charter authorizing it to condemn land upon payment of the value of the land taken, would be construed as requiring payment of the just compensation required by the constitution, which includes damages accruing to the residue of the owner’s land from such 'taking; and, so construed, the charter would be upheld. Bigelow v. Raihvay Co., 27 Wis., 478.
2. In appointing commissioners of appraisal under such a charter, the order of appointment should have given not only the language of the charter, but also, by way of direction to the commissioners, the construction put upon it by the court.
3. The general railroad law of 1872 furnishes the rules and methods for the acquisition, thereafter, of private property by railroad companies, in the exercise of the light of eminent domain; repealing all prior provisions on the subject in their charters. Moore v. Railway Co., 34 Wis., 173.
4. Where commissioners of appraisal were appointed before the act of 1872, their proceedings under such appointment, taken after that act, must be governed by it, there being then no otker.'law authorizing them to act.
5. A statutory power for the exercise of the right of eminent domain, dele gated to a corporation, must' he strictly pursued; and the jurisdiction of the commissioners of appraisal should affirmatively appear.
6. The act of 1872 required such commissioners, before entering on the duties of then- office, to take the constitutional oath prescribed for state officers: to support the constitutions of the United States and this state, and faithfully to discharge then duties to the best of their ability. Defendant’s charter, under which the commissioners in this case were appointed, required of them no oath; but they took one to execute the trust reposed hr them and discharge the duties imposed upon them as enjoined in said charier, pursuant to the provisions of the charter, to the best of their ability. Held, that their proceedings were void for want of jurisdiction.
7. What the rule would be if the record were silent as to the oath, is not here decided.
8. The act of 1874, which gives to existing railroad companies afi the powers of the general railroad act, and also of their respective charters, being amendatory and not declaratory, is not applicable to this case, where the proceedings were prior to that act. But this court does not understand that act as changing the powers or duties of circuit courts, or of commissioners appointed by them, in the exercise of the right of eminent domain.
9. The owner of land taken by a railroad company without any valid proceeding for that purpose, is entitled, ex débito justitiae, to an injunction restraining the company from constructing its road on the land.
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Outagamie County.
Action to restrain tbe defendant from constructing its road across plaintiff’s land. Tbe complaint alleged tbe incorporation of tbe defendant under a charter granted in 1866, tbe location of .its road across bis land without bis consent, entry upon tbe land against bis protest, and tbe taking of possession without making or offering compensation, etc.; and it prayed a perpetual injunction against tbe construction of tbe road across said land, tbe running of cars and locomotives thereon, etc.
Tbe original answer denied entry without consent, or that tbe land taken was worth more than $100; and alleged that beyond tbat sum plaintiff would sustain no damage from tbe construction of defendant’s road. It also alleged tbat plaintiff bad consented to tbe entry without any agreement for compensation, wbicb was to be postponed until tbe completion of tbe road to New London. A supplemental answer alleged tbe completion and operation of tbe road over tbe land; tbat commissioners were appointed November 80, 1870, by tbe circuit court for Outagamie county, pursuant to tbe charter of tbe company, wbo duly made tbeir award in writing, after notice to plaintiff and bis wife, and after bearing them and viewing the land; that they determined tbe actual cash value of tbe land taken to be $146.25, and fixed tbe compensation to be paid at $226.25; tbat such award was made June 26, 1872, and tbe amount was tendered July 3, 1872, but was refused, and no .appeal .taken; and tbat it was deposited with tbe clerk for payment, and bad ever since remained'so deposited.'
Upon tbe trial, plaintiff introduced evidence tending to show tbe damage to bis land by reason of tbe construction of tbe road; tbat tbe track ran so near bis bouse as to endanger it, and tbat be bad no good building spot except where bis house stood; tbat it compelled tbe removal of two barns, one of wbicb was moved by defendant, and tbe other by plaintiff at a cost of $75; tbat eight fruit trees were destroyed on tbe line of road, valued by plaintiff at $20 each; and tbat defendant bad taken a large amount of gravel from tbe land, estimated at over 7,000 cubic yards, wbicb was worth in tbe pit from ten to twenty-five cents per cubic yard. A diagram of tbe location of tbe road, produced in evidence by plaintiff, showed tbat tbe line ran diagonally through tbe northeast corner of tbe land, leaving about five acres north of tbe railroad, and thirty-two acres south. Several witnesses were examined by plaintiff as to tbe entire amount of damage to the land by tbe location of tbe road, tbeir estimates varying from $1,000 to $1,500. Plaintiff testified that be bad forbidden defendant’s men coming npon the land, and never had any agreement concerning the matter, and that the road had been built and operated across the land since the suit was begun.
The president of the. defendant company testified that he had a conversation with plaintiff concerning the location of the road. “ I told him if we could not agree, commissioners would have to be called. lie asked me when they would come. I said, as soon as we got the road through and it was convenient. He finally said, if he could have the barn moved carefully and not injured, the road might go on, and he would wait until the commissioners could come.” This testimony was corroborated by that of the president’s son. Defendant then introduced several witnesses, who testified that the land was worth more with the railroad than without it. It also proved a deposit by the company with the clerk of the circuit court of $226.25, the compensation awarded by the commissioners.
Defendant then introduced in evidence the condemnation proceedings. The notice of application for the appointment of commissioners stated that on the 30th of November, 18T0, the company would apply to the circuit court “ for the appointment of three commissioners to make, pursuant to the charter of said company, an appraisal and award of the value of any and all such lands * * as are mentioned in section eleven in said charter.” The order appointing the commissioners (dated November 30, 1810) recited the location of the road, the application for appointment of commissioners and its publication, and appointed three persons named, “ commissioners to make, pursuant to the charter of said company and the acts amendatory thereof, an appraisal and award of the value of any and all such lands in said counties of Brown and Outagamie, or either of them, which are the. private property of any person on the line of said railroad, as are mentioned in section eleven of said charter,” and directed that as such commissioners they should “have cognizance of all cases arising on the line or route of said railroad, with all power and authority by law conferred, or intended to be conferred, upon such commissioners.”
The form of oath administered to the commissioners, June 13, 1872, recited their appointment pursuant to ch. 540, P. & L. Laws of 1866 (defendant’s charter), and declared that “having been duly sworn, [they] severally make oath, each for himself, that each of them will, in all respects, to the best of his ability, execute the trust reposed in him, and discharge the duty imposed upon him as in said chapter 540 enjoined, pursuant to the provisions of said chapter in the matter aforesaid.”
The report of the commissioners -to the court, dated June 26, 1872, recited their appointment pursuant to said ch. 540, and the taking of the oath; that they had given notice June 20 and 21, 1872, to plaintiff and his wife, and had heard them and examined the land; that they appraised and awarded the “ full and actual cash value of said lands and property at the time of the entering upon, taking and appropriation thereof by said company,” at $146.25; and that they designated the sum to be paid and the compensation to be made by the company, in accordance with the provisions of said ch. 540, at the sum of $226.25.
' The court held, as conclusion of law, that the proceedings and award of the commissioners were valid, and conclusive upon the plaintiff, and that plaintiff was entitled to receive ¡from defendant all his costs, less defendant’s costs incurred in putting in the supplemental answer, so far as related to the proceedings and award of the commissioners. Judgment for plaintiff for costs in accordance with the finding; from which judgment plaintiff appealed.
Briefs were filed by Geo. H. Myers, for the appellant, and Norris & Chynoweth, for the respondents; and the cause was-argued orally by Mr. Myers for the appellant, and T. B. Chynoweth for the respondents.
Eor tbe appellant, tbe argument was substantially as follows: Defendant’s charter only requires tbe commissioners to appraise, and tbe company to pay, tbe value of tbe land taken; and that appraisal is to be without oath by the commissioners. If, then, no other law required them to takean oath, that taken was extra-judicial and void. Lumsden v. Milwaukee, 8 Wis., 485. But before tbe commissioners acted in this case, ch. 119, Laws of 1872, was published. Sec. 16 of that act requires tbe commissioners to take tbe oath prescribed by sec. 28, art. IY of tbe constitution, viz., to support tbe constitutions of tbe United States and this state, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their office to tbe best of their ability. Said sec. 16 also requires tbe commissioners, in making tlieir award, to appraise as well tbe damages to plaintiff as tbe value of his land. Tbe award shows upon its face that it was made in compliance with tbe charter alone. Tbe commissioners having violated tbe constitution and laws of tbe state, their award is void. Rollins v. M. dé M. R. R. Oo., 6 Wis., 636; Powers v. Bears, 12 id., 214; Bigelow v. W. IF. Railway Oo., 27 id., 478; Bohlman v. R. R. Co., 30 id., 105; Snyder v. R. R. Go., 25 id., 60; Moore v. Superior dé St. Croix R. R. Oo., 34 id., 174. Tbe powers of tbe commissioners being merely statutory, and their jurisdiction special and limited, their proceedings, if not strictly in pursuance of tbe constitution and statute, are of no authority. Benjamm v. Benjamín, 5 N. Y., 383; Blodgett v. Mitt, 29 Wis., 169; Maps v. Lewis, 21 id., 663; May v. M. dé M. R. R. Oo., 3 id., 219; 3 Chand., 7o; Kane v. Rook River Canal Go., 15 Wis., 179.
For tbe respondent, tbe following among other points were urged: 1. Tbe provisions of defendant’s charter in relation to tbe award of compensation are valid. Bigelow v. West Wis. Railway Oo., 27 Wis., 485. 2. The award, unappealed from, is conclusive. It has tbe same effect by way of estoppel as tbe verdict of a jury and judgment thereon. Stacey v. Vt. Gent. R. R. Co., 27 Yt., 43; Johnson v. M. dé St. P. Railway Go., 19 "Wis., 137; Brazill v. Isham, 12 N. Y., 15; Pease v. Whit-ten, 31 Me., 117; Backus v. Foies, .20 N. Y., 204, 209; Sabin v. B. JEt. Company, 25 Yt., 370; Jones v. Perkins, 54 Me., 393; Lloycl v. Barr, 11 Pa. Si, 41; Bancroft v. Grover, 23 "Wis., 463; Slocum v. Damon, 1 Pin,, 520; G. (& G. U. B. B. Go. v. Pound, 22 Ill., 399; Perkins v. Giles, 50 N. Y., 231; Tyson v. Wells, 2 Cal., 131. 3. The award was not void because it conformed to the charter and not to ch. 119, Laws of 1872. The case of Moore v. Superior <& St. Croix Bwer B. B. Go., 34 "Wis., 173, was one in which the commissioners were appointed after the law of 1872 toot effect. The provisions of sec. 33, ch. 119, R. S. (Tay. Stats., 1346, § 45), as to the effect of the repeal of a statute upon pending actions founded on the statute, afford conclusive support to this award. Peoria <& B. I. Bailway Go. v. Burkett, 62 Ill., 332. Again, the law of 1872 cannot affect this award, because plaintiff’s land had long before been used and occupied by the company, and his claim -for damages was complete long before that law. Neither the company nor the plaintiff could constitutionally be required, by retroactive legislation, either to submit their claims to the arbitrament of any other tribunal than that already provided for and established, or to proceed in any other manner than that prescribed at the time the damage was done and the tribunal established. In re Peter Townsend, 39 N. Y., 179. The law of 1872 should not be construed as having any retroactive force. Sedgw. on Stat. & Con. Law, 173; Potter’s Dwarris, 163-166; Seamans v. Garter, 15 "Wis., 548; Goodrich v. Milwaukee, 24 id., 438. 4. Defendant’s charter did not require its commissioners, at the time of their appointment in 1870, to take, as part of their qualification, any such oath as that prescribed by the act of 1872. The necessity for such an oath was not created until nearly two years afterward, and then not by amendment of the charter, but by a new and independent statute. The commissioners cannot be required to take the oath prescribed by sec. 28, art. IY of the constitution. They are in no sense legislative or executive officers. Nor are they judicial officers. Art. YII of tbe constitution enumerates the only judicial officers known or intended to be subject to tire oath mentioned in sec. 28, and no reference is there made to railway commissioners. Again, sec. 28 empowers the legislature to exempt “ inferior officers ” from taking such oath. The various railway charters granted by this state which do not require such commissioners to take that oath, impliedly exempt them from so doing; or they show that the legislatures of this state have not considered them as judicial officers. See People v. ¿Supervisors, 17 N. Y., 241; People v. Sigh/way Com/missioners, 15 Mich., 351. From the course of legislation and from the absence of any decision by this court on the subject, it is to be inferred that the general understanding has been that these commissioners are not judicial officers. Bcanlanv. Ghilds, 33 Wis., 663. And the facts that no such objection has hitherto been taken, and that if now sustained it would be most disastrous to property interests, are conclusive against it. Webb v. P. B. Co., 49 N. Y., 420; Philips v. Alb any, 28 Wis., 357.
This case was once before this court upon appeal from a judgment of non-suit by the court below on the ground that the complaint did not state a cause of action. See Bohlman v. Green Bay & Lake Pepin R'y Co., 30 Wis., 105.

Opinion:
Ryan, C. J.
This case turns upon the validity of the proceedings and award of the commissioners set up in the supplemental answer of the respondent.
The language of the respondent's charter, ch. 540 of 1866, secs. 10, 11, is similar to that of the West Wisconsin Railroad Company, considered in Bigelow v. Railway Co., 27 Wis., 478. In that case, the charter was upheld on the ground that the provision for the payment of the value of the land talcen was equivalent to the just compensation of the constitution. That case, therefore, controls the validity and construction of the charter of the respondent in this case. But though the court is able by construction to sustain charters using such peculiar and obscure language, ut res magis valeat guam pereat, it by no means follows that the circuit court was right in using the same language in the appointment of commissioners of appraisal. It certainly would bave been safer and better if the order of appointment bad given, not only the language of the charter, but also, by way of direction to the commissioners, the construction put upon it by the court; so "that the commissioners might bave before them a full expression of the rule of appraisal, and not be left to discover by construction the precise conditions of their duty in that behalf. It is impossible to read this record without being strongly impressed with apprehension that the commissioners not unnaturally mistook the full measure of their duty; and that they confined themselves very much to the literal value of the land taken by the respondent, without properly considering the damages accruing to the residue of the appellant's land. The manner in which the order of appointment literally followed the charter, and was apparently followed in turn by the commissioners, tends to make the legislature in passing such a charter, and this court in giving it a construction to sustain it, parties to a gross wrong to those whose lands may have been taken and appraised under it. The order of appointment, in this regard, is not unlike a charge of the court to a jury on the rule of damages; which shoifid be not only technically correct, but clear and explicit to the comprehension of laymen. Hutchinson v. Railway Co., 37 Wis., 582, and cases there cited. We could not well forbear saying so much on a matter of such grave and general moment.
This court held in Moore v. Railway Co., 34 Wis., 173, that the general railroad act of 1872 furnishes the rules and methods for the acquisition, thereafter, of private property by railroad companies, in the exercise of the right of eminent domain; repealing all prior provisions on the subject in their several charters. We entertain no. doubt of the correctness of that case, following a rule of constructive repeal well settled in this court. The order appointing commissioners in this case was made previous to the statute of 1872; but the pro ceedings of the commissioners under it appear to Rave been taken after the passage of the statute, and must be governed by it. The land of the appellant could not of course be taken from bim, in mviUmij under the repealed provisions of the respondent's charter'. The taking can be justified only under the provisions of law then existing to authorize the responds ent's exercise of the right of eminent domain; that is, the statute of 1812.
"We cannot regard this as giving a retroactive effect to that statute. "We do not bold that it operates to impair any proceeding previously taken under the charter. We therefore do not apply it to- the order of the circuit court appointing commissioners. But we do apply it to the subsequent action of the commissioners, because, outside of it, they bad no authority of law to act at all. Neither can we perceive any application of sec. 33, cb. 119, R. S., to the question, for reasons sufficiently apparent in Dillon v. Linder, 36 Wis., 344. And indeed, aside from the principle of that case, it would be strange if the legislature could be foreclosed, by a previous general statute, from changing at will the details of an incomplete statutory proceeding. This is precisely what the statute of 1872 does here.
The charter of the respondent appears to have required of the commissioners no oath of office. Sec. 16 of the general railroad act of 1872 requires the commissioners, before entering on the discharge of their duties, to take the constitutional oath prescribed for state officers: to support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state, and faithfully to discharge their duties to the best of their ability. The commissioners in this case took and filed with their report an oath of office to execute the trust reposed in them, and discharge the duties imposed upon them, as enjoined in the charter of the respondent, pursuant to the provisions of the charter, to the best of their ability.
Of course here was a total failure of tbe oath prescribed by law. This was probably a blunder; if so, a pregnant blunder. It apparently closed the eyes of the commissioners to the rule of just compensation required by the constitution, and to the construction of that rule in the statute of 1872: the -value of the land taken, and the damages sustained by the owner by reason of the taking. There is a strong presumption that the commissioners considered themselves to be in the execution of the repealed provision of the charter only, without much reference to the constitution and without any to the existing provision of the statute of 1872. And their regard to the obscure and indefinite language of the charter, and disregard of the clear and specific language of the act of 1872, were a failure of duty, not in form merely, but in substance, as this record sufficiently discloses. Had the commissioners been referred to the constitution, they must have noticed that the value of the land taken must include the damages arising from the taking, in order to fill the measure of just compensation. And had they been referred to the statute of 1872, under which alone they then had authority to act, they would have found a precise definition of the just compensation of the constitution, as construed by this court. Railroad Co. v. Elle, 3 Pin., 334; Rollins v. Railroad Co., 6 Wis., 636. If the commissioners had taken the oath required by the statute of 1872, it appears quite impossible that they could have mistaken the true rule of appraisal. Taking an oath to perform their duties under the general language of the charter only, it was quite easy to fall into the mistake into which it is greatly to be feared they did fall.
In the statute of 1872, the legislature was at the pains, ex mdustrid, of specifically stating the rule of appraisement, leaving no room for construction or mistake. And it was a fatal error of the commissioners to mistake the statute under which they were acting. As it is, the oath which they took was not one authorized by law. It was an oath to perform their duties according to the terms of a statute which were l'ejDealed because they were vague and indefinite. It was an oath which tended to mislead them, and presumably did mislead them, in the performance of their duties. It was probably worse than taking no oath at all. It was certainly as bad.
The commissioners could proceed to the appraisal, under the authority of the statute of 1872 only. And that statute withheld all authority from them, until they should have taken the oath which it prescribes. Although appointed by the court to be commissioners, they could take the authority of commissioners only by taking the required oath. The oath was therefore jurisdictional. Failure to take the oath required by the statute left the commissioners without authority to proceed; and their whole proceeding is therefore absolutely void.
The enforcement of the right of eminent domain is a necessary but harsh process, in derogation of private right. And a statutory process for its exercise, delegated to a corporation, must be strictly followed. Sedgwick's Stat. & Const. Law, 313. The jurisdiction of the commissioners to proceed should affirmatively appear, as in other statutory proceedings in derogation of the common law. Fladland v. Delaplaine, 19 Wis., 459, and cases cited in Vilas and Bryant's notes; Foster v. Hammond, 37 Wis., 185.
It was contended by the respondent's counsel, with much ingenuity, that the oath required is only a qualification.of the commissioners, and should be presumed with other qualifications, such as age, residence, etc. It is unnecessary to decide here what the rule might be in such a case, when the record is silent as to the oath. But here the record discloses that the commissioners did not take the required oath, by disclosing what oath they did take. As already remarked, the failure of the oath was a failure of jurisdiction of the commissioners. And where failure of jurisdiction affirmatively appears in a record, it is fatal even to the judgment of a court of general jurisdiction. Rape v. Heaton, 9 Wis., 328; Falkner v. Guild, 10 id., 563; Pollard v. Wegener, 13 id., 569; Blodgett v. Hitt, 29 id., 169. Some reference was made on the argument to ch.' 292 of 1874, amending the statute of 1872 by giving to existing railroad companies all the powers of the general railroad act, and also of their respective charters. The act of 1874 is not declaratory but amendatory, and could not aid the difficulty here. But we think it right to say that we do not understand the amendment of 1874 as changing the powers or duties of the circuit courts or of commissioners appointed by them, in the exercise of the right of eminent domain. This case sufficiently shows the propriety of a general statute governing the exercise of the right by all railroad companies; and the wisdom of the careful and precise provisions of the statute of 1872. And we cannot believe that the legislature intended to relegate the proceeding to the incongruous and sometimes uncertain language of particular charters, repealed by the safer provisions of the statute of 1872.
It is' a very easy thing for the respondent to acquire the right of way over the appellant's land, making just compensation to him according to the constitution and the statute of 1872. In the mean time, let the consequences be what they may, the appellant is entitled, ex debito justitim, to the judgment which he seeks.
By the Oov/rt. — The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the cause remanded, with instructions to the court below fo render judgment for the appellant according to the prayer of the complaint.