Court Opinion

ID: 9807388
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:02:42.575024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:35:29.951969
License: Public Domain

Montgomery, J.,
concurring in result. It is difficult for me to understand from a reading of the complaint the grounds upon which the plaintiff relies to recover the judgment which he demands. Two causes of action are set forth. In the first, there are allegations that the plaintiff was the owner of two small tracts of land near Tarboro and that the chairman of the defendant Board of Commissioners inquired of the plaintiff if he would sell the same, and for what price; that the plaintiff answered the inquiry stating that $700 was the price asked for the land; that the defendant made no reply and not long thereafter they went upon the land and constructed a highway across and through it. There was *578then a prayer that the defendants “comply with their said agreement as hereinbefore stated and pay said sum, which was refused,” the plaintiff alleging at the same time that “he was ready, able and willing to convey a clear title for said land to the said defendants for the price named and agreed upon.”
The second cause of action is stated in the, following words: 1. That the said defendants entered upon and took possession of the said two parcels of land hereinbefore described and set out. 2. That said tracts of land lie adjoining and they contain about three-quarters of an acre; that said defendants dug u¡3 said land and took the earth therefrom, causing deep, dangerous and unsightly holes in it. The earth so removed was used in constructing an embankment about twenty-five feet wide at the top and about twelve to fifteen feet high, on and across said land, on which the defendant opened a highway; that said land is destroyed and rendered useless for any practical purpose by reason of the construction and presence of said highway.
There followed a prayer for damages for $700. The defendants demurred to both causes of action. The demurrers were sustained by the court below. There was no appeaL from the judgment on the demurrer in the first cause of action.
The ground upon which the demurrer to the second cause of action was interposed was stated by the pleader to be that “the facts stated therein (the complaint) do not constitute a cause of action in that a trespass upon the lands described in the complaint is alleged, for which trespass no statutory right of action is alleged, or exists.” It looks to us that the complaint does not contain an allegation of trespass upon the part of the defendants. The allegation is that they entered upon the land and built upon it a highway, that is, a public road. There is no allegation that they entered un*579lawfully upon the land and built and opened the highway. The County Commissioners of Edgecombe, under Chapter 50 of the first volume of The Code, were authorized to have laid out and constructed public roads and highways. The particular manner in which they should act is set forth in that Chapter of The Code. The allegation having been made in the complaint that the defendants had laid off a public road over the plaintiff’s land the presumption would be that they proceeded according to law, that there was a petition for the laying off of the road, the appointment of commissioners for that purpose, the action of the commissioners, their report, and compensation ordered by the defendants. Such proceedings on the part of County Commissioners are entirely judicial, and there is a presumption that everything was done in an orderly and proper method.
As we have said, the complaint does not state that the defendants unlawfully entered the plaintiff’s possessions and without authority of law condemned them to tire public use; and it would indeed appear strange if such a thing should have been done. It seems to me, therefore, that it ought not to be concluded that the defendants have acted in such a manner without a direct allegation to that effect. It may be that condemnation of the plaintiff’s land for public purposes has been made, and that the compensation fixed by the commissioners was not satisfactory to the plaintiff. If so relief can not be had in the present action. The demurrer may have been sustained on the wrong ground, but it can be seen from the complaint that the plaintiff has stated no cause of action and the same should be dismissed.