Opinion ID: 1303466
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: To judge of the validity of their claims.

Text: 2. To ascertain, by the aid and through the medium of commissioners, appointed by the Legislature, the quality and value of the land. 3. To judge of the quantity of vacant land to be granted as an equivalent. This is not the constitutional line of procedure. I have already observed, that there are but three modes, in which matters of this kind can be conducted consistently with the principles and spirit of the Constitution, and social alliance. The first of which is by the parties, that is to say, by the Legislature and proprietor of the land. Of this the British history presents an illustrious example in the case of the Isle of Man. The distinct jurisdiction of this little subordinate royalty being found inconvenient for the purposes of public justice, and for the revenue (it affording a commodious asylum for debtors, outlaws, and smugglers) authority was given to the treasury, by statute 12. Geo. l.c. 28, to purchase the interest of the then proprietors for the use of the Crown; which purchase was at length compleated in the year 1765, and confirmed by statutes 5 Geo. III. c. 26 and 38, whereby the whole island and all its dependencies, so granted as aforesaid (except the landed property of the Atholl family, their manerial rights and emoluments, and the patronage of bishopricks, and other ecclesiastical benefices) are unalienably vested in the Crown, and subjected to the regulations of the British excise and customs. 1 Bl. Com. 107. Shame to American legislation! That in England, a limited monarchy, where there is no written constitution, where the Parliament is omnipotent, and can mould the Constitution at pleasure, a more sacred regard should have been paid to property, than in America, surrounded as we are with a blaze of political illumination; where the Legislatures are limited; where we have republican governments, and written Constitutions, by which the protection and enjoyment of property are rendered inviolable. The case of the Isle of Man was a fair and honorable stipulation; it partook of the spirit and effence of a contract; it was free and mutual; and was treating with the proprietors on equal terms. But if the business cannot be effected in this way, then the value of the land, intended to be taken, should be ascertainary commissioners, or persons mutually elected by the parties, of by the intervention of the Judiciary, of which a Jury is a component part. In the first case, we approximate nearly to a contract; because the will of the party, whose property is to be affected, is in some degree exercised; he has a choice; his own act co-operates with that of the Legislature. In the other case, there is the intervention of a court of law, or, in other words, a jury is to pass between the public and the individual, who, after hearing the proofs and allegations of the parties, will, by their verdict, fix the value of the property, or the sum to be paid for it. The compensation, if not agreed upon by the parties or their agents, must be ascertained by a jury. The interposition of a jury is, in such case, a constitutional guard upon property, and a necessary check to legislative authority. It is a barrier between the individual and the legislature, and ought never to be removed; as long as it is preserved, the rights of private property will be in no danger of violation, except in cases of absolute necessity, or great public utility. By the confirming act, the value of the land taken, and the value of the land to be paid in recompense, are to be ascertained by the Board of Property. And who are the persons that constitute this board? Men appointed by one of the parties, by the Legislature only. The person, whose property is to be divested and valued, had no volition, no choice, no co-operation in the appointment; and besides, the other constitutional guard upon property, that of a jury, is removed and done away. The Board of Property thus constituted, are authorised to decide upon the value of the land to be taken, and upon the value of the land to be given by way of equivalent, without the participation of the party, or the intervention of a jury.