Court Opinion

ID: 9706716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:50:24.847231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:41:29.154164
License: Public Domain

Hennessey, J.
This is an appeal from a final decree of the Superior Court in equity on a petition brought pursuant to the provisions of G. L. c. 240, § 10A. The petitioners, owners of a parcel of land subject to certain restrictions known as the Commonwealth Restrictions, seek a determi*592nation and declaration that the restrictions are obsolete and unenforceable. More specifically, they seek such relief under the terms of G. L. c. 184, § 30. After proper notice was given to owners of nearby lots pursuant to c. 240, § 10B, a hearing was held at which several of these owners appeared as respondents in opposition to the petition. The petition was taken pro confessa against each of the others and against the Commonwealth.1 At the conclusion of the hearing the judge made findings of fact, including findings that since the imposition of the restrictions various public bodies have been given control over the basic design structure of buildings on premises subject to the restrictions, that there has been a radical change in the character of the neighborhood surrounding the petitioners’ and the respondents’ properties, and that as a result the restrictions are obsolete. He further found that it would be “oppressive, inequitable and not in the public interest” to give effect to the restrictions in this factual setting. Damages were found to be nominal. The final decree declared the restrictions . obsolete and unenforceable and that there would be no rights to any damages.
The Commonwealth Restrictions date from the middle of the last century. By 1850 the condition of the tidal flats which composed the area now known as the Back Bay had become a nuisance, largely due to drainage problems. The Commonwealth determined to fill in the area and sell lots for dwellings, subject to restrictions in conformity with a comprehensive land use plan.
With some exceptions and minor variations the same stipulations and agreements were inserted into all the deeds to land in the Back Bay district, from the Commonwealth as grantor to various private grantees, beginning in 1857. See generally, Attorney Gen. v. Gardiner, 117 Mass. 492 (1875); Allen v. Massachusetts Bonding & Ins. Co. 248 Mass. 378 (1924).
General Laws c. 184, § 30, inserted by St. 1961, c. 448, § 1, on which the petitioners rely, provides that no restric-*593tian shall be enforced or declared to be enforceable unless it is determined that the restriction is, at the time of the proceeding, of actual and substantial benefit to a person claiming rights of enforcement. Further, even if a restriction is found to be of such benefit, it shall not be enforced except by award of money damages if any of séveral enumerated conditions are found to exist.2
The facts are as follows. The petitioners are the owners of two parcels of land separated by Public Alley No. 437; the first is known as 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 Commonwealth Avenue and the second as 13-15 Arlington Street and 1, 3, and 5 Newbury Street. The former is presently a vacant lot; the latter is the site of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Both are subject to various of the Commonwealth Restrictions i The petitioners plan to build on the former lot a 285 foot high hotel-apartment building,with a twelve-story structure as a bridge over the alley, connecting it with the Ritz-Carlton. Plans call for the new building to contain such restaurant and shopping facilities as are usually incidental to the running of a large hotel, and an underground garage for off-street parking as required by the Boston Zoning Code.
The respondents are the owners of 12-14 Commonwealth Avenue, a parcel which is adjacent to the petitioners’ vacant lot and backs on the same alley. This property contains an eight-story building with eight apartments on *594each floor except the first, half facing Commonwealth Avenue and half the alley in back, half (the corner apartments) being of two rooms and half efficiency apartments. The thirty-two rear apartments derive their principal light and air from one window in each apartment on the alley.
Among the restrictions contained in the original deeds to the parcel numbered 4,6,8, and 10 Commonwealth Avenue are the following: “[a] That a passageway, sixteen feet wide, is to be laid out in the rear of the premises, the same to be filled in by the Commonwealth, and to be kept open and maintained by the abutters in common . . . [b] That any building erected on the premises . . . shall not in any event be used ... for any ... mercantile ... purposes ... [c] That any building erected on the premises . . . shall not in any event be used for a stable... [d] That no cellar or lower floor of any building shall be placed more than four feet below the level of the Mill Dam, as fixed by the top surface of the hammered stone at the Southeasterly corner of the emptying sluices, [e] That the front wall [of any building erected on the premises] . . . shall be set back twenty feet . . . provided that steps, windows, porticoes, and other usual projections appurtenant thereto, are to be allowed in said reserved space of twenty feet.” Among the restrictions contained in the original deed to the parcel numbered 2 Commonwealth Avenue are the same restrictions as those applicable to the parcel numbered 4, 6, 8, and 10 Commonwealth Avenue except that any building constructed thereon shall be set back from Commonwealth Avenue twenty-two feet, rather than twenty feet as stipulated for 4, 6, 8, and 10 Commonwealth Avenue. Among the restrictions contained in the original deeds to the parcels numbered 13-15 Arlington Street and 1, 3, and 5 Newbury Street is the following: “That a passageway, Sixteen feet wide, is to be laid out in the rear of the premises, the same to be filled in by the Commonwealth, and to be kept open and maintained by the abutters in common____”
We have found no error in the judge’s decision that none of these restrictions shall be enforced, except in so far as he found that no damages shall be awarded. We note that the *595most difficult aspect of this case concerns the passageway. There will be no obstruction to the movements of persons or vehicles, since the bridge between the Ritz-Carlton building and the new building will start at a point thirteen feet above the ground. Nevertheless, the bridge will occupy most of the space between the two buildings for a height of twelve stories, with consequent effect on light and air. For this reason we have determined, as discussed later in this opinion, that damages are to be awarded for loss of light and air.
Our consideration of this case first concerns itself with the issue whether G. L. c. 184, § 30, is constitutional. We have determined below that there is no merit to the respondents’ claim of unconstitutionality. Thereafter, as will be seen, we proceed to a consideration of each of the five restrictions. It will also be seen that our discussion of the construction of the statute, as well as its constitutional aspects, centers on the restriction against blocking the passageway.
Constitutionality.
The respondents argue briefly, almost without discussion, that G. L. c. 184, § 30, is unconstitutional or has been unconstitutionally applied. The dissenting Justices in this case conclude that the statute is unconstitutional. We believe that the statute is constitutional and was constitutionally applied here.
The dissent concludes that the result of the trial judge’s decision is an unconstitutional taking of the respondents’ property for private purposes. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, art. 10. United States Constitution, Amendments 5 and 14. It is true that the settled law of this Commonwealth is that deed restrictions of this type are a property interest in land. See Nash v. Eliot St. Garage Co. 236 Mass. 176, 180 (1920); Ward v. Prudential Ins. Co. 299 Mass. 559, 564 (1938); Belmont v. Massachusetts Amusement Corp. 333 Mass. 565, 572 (1956). Nevertheless, we *596believe, first, that there is no need to consider that a taking occurred in this case and, second, that even assuming there was a taking it was for a public purpose and was therefore constitutional.
While we need not decide the issue here, it is not at all clear that the operation of c. 184, § 30, in this case amounts to a taking in the constitutional sense. While G. L. c. 79¡ § 1, authorizes eminent domain proceedings to take “any interest” in real property, and thus a restrictive covenant may theoretically be said to be “taken,” the Commonwealth here is surely not taking an interest in the ordinary sense of that word. The statute here may with equal validity be viewed not so much as affecting a taking but as altering the remedies by which such restrictions may be enforced in certain circumstances. Thirty-sixth Report of the Judicial Council (December, 1960), Pub. Doc. No. 144, pp. 80-82, reprinted in 45 Mass. L. Q. (No. 4) 1 (1960). But see Riverbank Improvement Co. v. Chadwick, 228 Mass. 242 (1917).
Equity does not invariably and automatically grant specific enforcement of such restrictions on the use of land. Cf. Whitney v. Union Ry. 11 Gray 359, 366 (1858) (“They do not restrict the alienation of land.. . . They do not tend to perpetuity.... They do not impair the enjoyment of the property.”); Riverbank Improvement Co. v. Chadwick, 228 Mass. 242, 247 (1917) (“It has been found expressly that the enforcement of the restrictions would ‘not be injurious to the public interests’ ”). While the usual ground for denying such enforcement in a case involving real property is loches, see Whitney v. Union Ry., supra, at 367, or other inequitable conduct by the party seeking to enforce the restriction, this need not always be the case. The Restatement: Property, § 563 (1944), would deny enforcement, apparently without compensation, if the “harm done by granting the injunction will be disproportionate to the benefit secured thereby.” The official comments, while suggesting that the standard be a “disproportion ... of considerable magnitude,” do not even consider the possi*597bility that such a limitation of remedies could conflict with the constitutional mandate of the taking clause.
The United States Supreme Court has never considered that every government regulation impinging directly or indirectly on property rights would constitute a “taking” of property in the constitutional sense. As long ago as 1885 Mr. Justice Gray stated in Head v. Amoskeag Mfg. Co. 113 U. S. 9, 21 (1885), that “[w]hen property, in which several persons have a common interest, cannot be fully and beneficially enjoyed in its existing condition, the law often provides a way in which they may compel one another to submit to measures necessary to secure its beneficial enjoyment, making equitable compensation to any whose control of or interest in the property is thereby modified.” While the court there dealt with conflicting water rights and the opinion used partition of a joint tenancy as an example, the language is equally apposite to. the situation in the present case. See also Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. 272 U. S. 365 (1926) (zoning constitutional although it greatly decreases value of land). Just this year, in another zoning case, the Supreme Court restated the proposition of Mr. Justice Holmes that “property rights may be cut down, and to that extent taken, without pay.” Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U. S. 1, 9-10 (1974), quoting Block v. Hirsh, 256 U. S. 135, 155 (1921).
To rule that G. L. c. 184, § 30, is unconstitutional would raise to a constitutional right the ordinary rule of equity that property interests may be enforced by a decree of specific performance. This result, by removing the discretion inherent in courts of equity to determine whether to grant specific performance, would reverse legal precedents even older than the Commonwealth Restrictions themselves. Western R. R. v. Babcock, 6 Met. 346, 352 (1843). Lee v. Kirby, 104 Mass. 420, 427-428 (1870). Curran v. Holyoke Water Power Co. 116 Mass. 90 (1874). Thaxter v. Sprague, 159 Mass. 397 (1893). Richardson Shoe Mach. Co. v. Essex Mach. Co. 207 Mass. 219 (1911). Brockton Olympia Realty Co. v. Lee, 266 Mass. 550 (1929). Linden *598Park Garage, Inc. v. Capitol Laundry Go. 284 Mass. 454 (1933). Exchange Realty Co. v. Bines, 302 Mass. 93 (1939). Kaplan v. Bessette, 357 Mass. 233 (1970). See generally, Story Equity Jurisprudence (14th ed.) § 1026 (1918).
Changes in law and circumstances since the time of the creation of the Commonwealth Restrictions and that of Riverbank Improvement Co. v. Chadwick, 228 Mass. 242 (1917). militate in favor of adopting the view that the statute circumscribes remedies rather than “takes” land. With the advent of zoning, see Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. 272 U. S. 365 (1926), and the growth of numerous public regulatory bodies such as those mentioned in fn. 4, infra, the use of land has been controlled for the most part by public law rather than private restrictions.
The Legislature, has appropriately left the decision on specific enforcement of these rights where it has tradi-tionallyresided, in the sound discretion of a judge of a court of equity. It seems inappropriate to transform this discretionary remedy into a constitutional right. Nevertheless the dissent apparently would hold that the Legislature is powerless, even in a case where the public interest will be served, to alter land use decisions inscribed in a deed over a century ago by parties to a private land transaction, unless it determines to take the land by eminent domain for a park or highway or other comparable use.
Even assuming that c. 184, § 30, is viewed as allowing a taking of property in this case, we believe the taking would be constitutional. It is not necessary, for a taking of private property to be upheld as constitutional, that the land thereafter be devoted to a public use; it is enough if the taking is accomplished for a public purpose. Papadinis v. Somerville, 331 Mass. 627 (1954). Moskow v. Boston Redevelopment Authy. 349 Mass. 553 (1965). “In such cases the legislature, not the judiciary, is the main guardian of the public needs to be served by social legislation .... The role of the judiciary in determining whether . . . [the power of eminent domain] is being exercised for a public purpose is an extremely narrow one.” Berman v. Parker, 348 U. S. 26, 32 (1954).
*599The statute in question here was clearly passed to promote the “reasonable use of land for purposes for which it is most suitable,” c. 184, § 30 (4), as well as to increase the marketability of real estate which may be impaired by obsolete restrictions. These are proper purposes, of great benefit and utility to the public, which justify the taking of property interests of the kind at issue here. Cf. Village on the Hill, Inc. v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authy. 348 Mass. 107 (1964); Moskow v. Boston Redevelopment Authy. 349 Mass. 553 (1965). The parcel of land in question here has been vacant for over a decade. By the operation of this statute a large apartment-hotel complex may be built upon it, providing numerous benefits to the general public, not the least being its effect on the tax base. That the owner of the land may also benefit as a private party is irrelevant. If this situation constitutes a taking we cannot say it was accomplished for a purely private purpose. See, generally, Nichols, Eminent Domain (Rev. 3d ed.) c. VII (1970). Nichols, The Meaning of Public Use in the Law of Eminent Domain, 20 B. U. L. Rev. 615 (1940).
The case on which the dissent relies, Riverbank Improvement Co. v. Chadwick, 228 Mass. 242 (1917), is readily distinguishable from the present situation. The Riverbank case dealt with St. 1915, c. 112, a statute substantially the same as the one in issue here. The court held only that the statute was not constitutionally applied on the facts of that case. It did not consider the “constitutionality of the statute in other aspects”. 228 Mass, at 249. Statute 1915, c. 112, conferred jurisdiction on the Land Court to remove equitable restrictions if their enforcement “would be inequitable or injurious to the public interests.” The statute made clear elsewhere that “inequitable” and “injurious to the public interests” were independent conditions, thereby empowering the Land Court to remove an inequitable restriction even if it were not injurious to the public interest, provided that the landowner was compensated for his loss. This is exactly what the Land Court did in the Riverbank case. The court found that it would be inequitable to continue to enforce the restrictions, but the court *600also specifically found that the operation of the restrictions was not injurious to the public interest. 228 Mass, at 247 (1917).
Given these findings, in particular the last one, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Land Court had unconstitutionally applied the statute in question. “The effect of the instant statute as applied to these facts is to extinguish this right as affecting the land described in the petition so far as found to exist in the respondents, not for any public use nor to subserve any public end, but merely for the benefit of other private landowners whose estates are less valuable by reason of the existence of the right and who could make more advantageous and profitable uses of their own land if these incumbrances were out of the way. It has been found expressly that the enforcement of the restrictions would ‘not be injurious to the public interests.’ That finding must be accepted as final and true... . ‘[I]t is beyond the legislative power to take, against his will, the property of one and give it to another for what the court deems private uses, even though full compensation for the taking be required.’ ”228 Mass. 247 (1917).
The heart of the Riverbank case holding, and the basis for its decision on constitutional grounds, was the Land Court’s finding that the restrictions in question were not operating in a manner detrimental to the public interest. In the instant case, we have a specific finding below, adequately supported by the evidence, that if these restrictions were enforced, they would operate contrary to the public interest. Some language from the Riverbank case is appropriate hére: “That finding must be accepted as final and true.” 228 Mass. at 247 (1917).
In summary, we emphasize that the rights of the respondents here are to be recognized in full and fair money damages; that the rights they assert relate, not directly to ownership or use of their own land, but to the control of land use in the surrounding community; that, in the century since the deeds were executed, a sophisticated system of statutes and ordinances has arisen for the regulation of land *601use in the community; and that it is not in the public interest to enforce the restrictions.
From what we have said it follows that our holding, that the statute is constitutionally applied here, necessarily depends in part on the judge’s finding, fully supported in the evidence, that the public interest would not be served by the enforcement of the restrictions. Our holding also depends on the statutory provision that, as we have ordered later in this opinion, compensatory damages are to be awarded where specific performance is denied as to a restriction which is of actual and substantial benefit to the person claiming rights of enforcement.
Cellar.
The respondents have stipulated that they do not seek to enforce the restriction on the depth of a lower floor or cellar and do not appeal the decision of the Superior Court in this regard only. Accordingly, that aspect of the final decree declaring this restriction obsolete and unenforceable may be affirmed without further discussion.
Setback of Building.
Before the trial court, and in their brief and argument before this court, the respondents made no reference to the restriction requiring a specified setback from the front of the lot and barring all but the “usual projection” in this area.3 Presumably the respondents are content to rely, so far as setback is concerned, on the public bodies mentioned in fn. 4, infra, and the zoning provisions and variance procedures. Boston Zoning Code (1963) arts. 7 and 21. *602Accordingly, that aspect of the decree, declaring this restriction obsolete and unenforceable, may also be affirmed without further discussion.
Stables.
The restriction against stables is not really at issue between the parties. Whatever their common objectionable traits a garage is not a stable, as we have previously held. The case of Riverbank Improvement Co. v. Bancroft, 209 Mass. 217 (1911), made it clear that the term stable, as used in such restrictions, implies the presence of domestic animals. It is nevertheless true that the passage of time and the replacement of horse drawn vehicles by the automobile have rendered this restriction both obsolete and of no actual and substantial benefit to the respondents. Moreover, the advent of such public land use controls as G. L. c. Ill, § 155, materially reduces the need for its enforcement as it eliminates any remaining threat of a stable’s being built in a largely residential area. See Worcester Bd. of Health v. Tupper, 210 Mass. 378, 381 (1912); Despite the respondents’ arguments to the contrary the permissibility of the proposed garage, since it is not a stable, is not before us. Any issues as to the garage would be decided on a proper application of the pertinent provisions of the zoning ordinance.
Mercantile Uses .
As to the restriction against mercantile uses, we conclude that the proposed hotel would not violate the restriction against use for “mechanical, mercantile or manufacturing purposes.” The judge’s finding to the contrary was plainly wrong. In a case analyzing the identical phrases in another deed we held that mercantile use was limited to buying and selling commercial commodities for a profit, and did not include the operation of a private hospital. Carr v. Riley, *603198 Mass. 70 (1908). As the hotel and apartment use is permissible, the incidental use of a small portion of the building for shops would not in any case be deemed to create a violation of the restriction. We need not consider the petitioners’ further argument that the major changes that have occurred in the neighborhood largely destroy the utility of the restriction against mercantile uses.
The Passageway.
The final restriction is that mandating that the passageway behind the petitioners’ lot, now Public Alley No. 437, shall “be kept open.” The judge found, on evidence which clearly supports his findings, that the respondents have an actual and substantial benefit in the enforcement of this restriction and that the proposed building would violate it. However, his further findings that the restriction is obsolete and that the respondents are entitled to only nominal damages are plainly wrong. We neverthless hold that, even though it is not obsolete, the restriction shall not be specifically enforced. We base our conclusion on other grounds which appear in G. L. c. 184, § 30. These grounds are discussed in detail later in this opinion. In lieu of specific enforcement, damages are to be awarded.
Considerable and conflicting evidence was adduced at trial as to the potential effect that bridging the alley would have on the light and air available to the apartments in the rear of the respondents’ building. It appears that all parties are in agreement that the “bridge” would decrease the direct sunlight available to the apartments; the dispute is as to the magnitude of the decrease. The testimony on ambient light and on available air was conflicting as to whether there would be an increase or a decrease. Clearly there would be some effect on the property. There was testimony to support a finding that the effect would not be de minimis but would be substantial.
The petitioners argue that any effect on light and air is nevertheless not a violation as the restriction was only *604designed to preserve these amenities in a neighborhood “wholly occupied by dwellings of a high class, to which air and light and prospect are not only desirable, but essential. . ..” Attorney Gen. v. Williams, 140 Mass. 329, 334 (1885). We need not consider the effect of any change in the class of dwellings in the neighborhood. The Williams case is authority that the restriction in question was designed to preserve light and air to the properties it benefited. Any decrease in available light and air is a violation of that restriction and a detriment to the properties it benefits regardless of the class to which they may be descriptively consigned.
Nor do we believe that such changes as have occurred in the neighborhood make this restriction obsolete. While restrictions requiring setbacks or prohibiting mercantile uses clearly have reference to maintaining the overall character of a neighborhood and can thus become obsolete as that neighborhood changes, cf. Jackson v. Stevenson, 156 Mass. 496, 502 (1892), this restriction is intended to secure a specific benefit to each residence it affects. So long as any of those residences continues to exist it cannot be called obsolete. As this urban area has grown and become ever more congested in the century since this restriction was first imposed, light and air have become more, not less, valuable. The restriction securing the respondents’ rights to them is certainly not obsolete.
Nevertheless, we find no error in the judge’s conclusion that this restriction should not be specifically enforced. We recognize that in the past this court has upheld mandatory injunctions calling for the destruction and removal of substantial permanent structures built in violation of such a restriction. Codman v. Bradley, 201 Mass. 361 (1909). Stewart v. Finkelstone, 206 Mass. 28 (1910). Gilbert v. Repertory, Inc. 302 Mass. 105 (1939). We have done so over the strong objection that “it would operate oppressively and inequitably, and impose on the defendant a loss disproportionate to the good it can accomplish . . ..” Stewart v. Finkelstone, 206 Mass. 28, 38 (1910). But G. L. c. 184, § 30, was designed to change the law in this field and *605make certain equitable considerations between the parties, as well as a consideration of the public interest, grounds to relegate the beneficiary of such a restriction to money damages.
There are several alternatives in c. 184, § 30, which support the judge’s decision to deny specific enforcement. On the evidence in this case, the petitioners have made a compelling case for such denial based on all of the following statutory grounds: “(1) changes in the character of the properties affected or their neighborhood . . . [and] in applicable public controls of land use or construction, or in any other conditions or circumstances, [which] reduce materially the need for the restriction or the likelihood of the restriction accomplishing its original purposes ... or (4) continuation of the restriction on the parcel against which enforcement is claimed ... would impede reasonable use of land for purposes for which it is most suitable, and would tend to impair the growth of the neighborhood or municipality in a manner inconsistent with the public interest... or (5) enforcement, except by award of money damages, is for any other reason inequitable or not in the public interest.”
Applying these criteria, we observe that the evidence shows, inter alla, that the properties and the neighborhood have drastically changed. Single-family residences have been replaced by moderately high-rise buildings for apartments and institutional use. We have found that the passageway restriction is of an actual and substantial benefit in its effect on light and air, but the proposed bridge will have only a modest impact in view of the drastic changes which have already occurred. In particular, an occupant of the respondents’ building, in looking out a rear window of that structure, would see to his immediate left and across the passageway the high-rise Ritz-Carlton building. As to the petitioners’ unused land to that viewer’s immediate left, on the same side of the passageway, it seems inevitable that, even if the bridge were not permitted, a building higher than the respondents’ building would at some time be constructed on it.
*606Further, since this restriction was first imposed, public controls have been imposed which tend to preempt the restriction in a manner contemplated by § 30. At least three different public authorities have been given control over the basic design structure of buildings on premises subject to the restrictions.4 Also, a public commission of the city5 has been given authority, with the approval of the mayor, to permit bridging over public alleys. Additionally, at least three zoning variances will have to be procured before the entire structure can be completed.
The record also clearly supports a conclusion that continued enforcement of the restriction would tend to impede reasonable use of the land for purposes for which it is most suitable. The uncontradicted evidence was that a free standing tower is economically unfeasible presumably because of the small size of the parcel, and that the plaintiffs’ proposal for an apartment-hotel complex connected to the adjacent Ritz-Carlton is the most suitable use of the land.
The evidence supports a conclusion that the proposed bridge is not an arbitrary and unnecessarily large intrusion. The twelve stories of the bridge relate to twelve of the lower floors of the new building which are to be used as a hotel; above those floors there will be apartments. The hotel floors are feasible only if connected to the hotel services of the Ritz Carlton. Therefore, all considerations of equity, and the most suitable use of the property, support the planned bridge construction in size as well as purpose.
Weighing and comparing the interests of the parties and the public in accordance with the several provisions of § 30 bring us almost inevitably to the conclusion that there should be no specific enforcement. In the words of provision (5) of the statute, which unquestionably confers the broadest discretion on the court, enforcement here would be *607inequitable and not in the public interest. The magnitude of the harm to the petitioners in specific enforcement of the restriction far exceeds that to the respondents in its denial. Moreover we are mandated by the statute to have due regard for the public interest in determining the manner of enforcement of a restriction. The land in question has been vacant for over a decade. We take judicial notice of the exceedingly high property tax rates current in the city of Boston and the beneficial effect on the tax base of the petitioners’ plan to construct a multimillion dollar project of public usefulness on presently unutilized land. In the circumstances both the balance of equities between the parties and a consideration of the public interest require that the respondents accept money damages by way of enforcement of this restriction.
We consider it appropriate to comment on one statement in the dissenting opinion, viz., the statement of the two dissenting Justices that they “cannot be unmindful of the precedential effect which the court’s decision of this case will have on a large part of the Back Bay of Boston, far beyond the several parcels of land owned by these particular litigants.” We comment here that the statute, G. L. c. 184, § 30, as well as the reasoning of our opinion in this case makes it clear that each case is to be decided according to its own circumstances. The determination by the Superior Court in this case of the public interest and the equities between the parties will not be determinative of the rights of other parties to other petitions, concerning other parcels of real property, and this will be so even if the terms of the restrictive covenants are the same. Nor, in the consideration of the future welfare of the Back Bay area, should we overlook the comprehensive controls exerted by public laws concerning land use.
Conclusion.
The final decree is reversed and the case is remanded to the Superior Court, where damages are to be assessed for *608the loss of benefit in light and air. Such further evidence as the judge deems to be necessary shall be heard on the issue of damages. We observe that, since the obstruction in the passageway is contemplated but not yet in existence, actual assessment or payment of damages may be considered by the judge to be premature. By interlocutory decree the judge shall order that, in so far as the restrictions discussed herein are concerned, the proposed construction may commence forthwith, before the issue of damages is resolved, with such provision for security for the respondents as the judge in his discretion deems appropriate. A new final decree shall ultimately be entered which awards damages and which is otherwise consistent with this opinion.

So ordered.

 The Commonwealth reentered the proceedings in this court as amicus curiae.

 Those conditions areas follows: “(1) changes in the character of the properties affected or their neighborhood, in available construction materials or techniques, in access, services or facilities, in applicable public controls of land use or construction, or in any other conditions or circumstances, which reduce materially the need for the restriction or the likelihood of the restriction accomplishing its original purposes or render it obsolete or inequitable to enforce except by award of money damages, or (2) conduct of persons from time to time entitled to enforce the restriction has rendered it inequitable to enforce except by award of money damages, or (3) in case of a common scheme the land of the person claiming rights of enforcement is for any reason no longer subject to the restriction or the parcel against which rights of enforcement are claimed is not in a group of parcels still subject to the restriction and appropriate for accomplishment of its purposes, or (4) continuation of the restriction on the parcel against which enforcement is claimed or on parcels remaining in a common scheme with it or subject to like restrictions would impede reasonable use of land for purposes for which it is most suitable, and would tend to impair the growth of the neighborhood or municipality in a manner inconsistent with the public interest or to contribute to deterioration of properties or to result in decadent or substandard areas or blighted open areas, or (5) enforcement, except by award of money damages, is for any other reason inequitable or not in the public interest.”

 The respondents’ brief states: “In the course of the trial below, in the interests of brevity,... [the respondents] confined their defense of the restrictions to three of the restrictions, i.e., those prohibiting: (i) blocking of the public ‘alley’; (ii) ‘mercantile’ uses; and (iii) ‘public stables.’ ”

 These three public authorities are the Boston redevelopment authority design review board, the Back Bay architectural commission, and the parks commissioner.

 The public improvement commission of the city of Boston.