Court Opinion

ID: 9856812
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:58:50.71605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:40:39.964603
License: Public Domain

P.AEKER; J.,
dissenting: The majority opinion at its beginning states ■the question for decision, and then says: “The same legal question, on similar facts, arose in Hiatt v. Greensboro, 201 N.C. 515, 160 S.E. 748 (1931).” After quoting in extenso from the opinion in the Hiatt case, the majority opinion states: “This decision, at the time of its rendition, was in accord with the weight of authority in other jurisdictions. 49 A.L.R. 351; 93 A.L.R. 642.”
This is stated in 29A C.J.S., Eminent Domain (1965), §' 105(1):
“An easement or servitude, whether in the nature of a right of way, a restrictive covenant, or a negative or equitable easement, is an interest in land for which the owner is entitled to compensation, as much so as if the land to which the easement is appurtenant were taken or injured.
“Thus the owner of land abutting on a street or highway has a private right in such street or highway, distinct from that of the public, which cannot be taken nor materially interfered with without just compensation, and this is so, even though another owns the fee in the highway.”
This statement of the law is supported by the citation of a legion of cases from many jurisdictions in this country; included among the North Carolina cases cited is the Hiatt case; and it still seems to be the majority rule in this country. To the same effect, see Nichols on Emi*686nent Domain, 3d Ed., Vol. 2, pp. 117-118 (1963), which cites many cases from many jurisdictions, including several cases from North Carolina, and among them the Hiatt case. See also to the same effect Anno., 150 A.L.R. 644 (1944). To deny compensation to plaintiff in this case, this Court has to overrule the Hiatt case, and to approve the taking of a property right of plaintiffs without requiring the payment of just compensation, in violation of Article I, section 17, of the North Carolina Constitution, and in violation of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The majority opinion also gravely impairs, if it does not in effect overrule, Davis v. Alexander, 202 N.C. 130, 162 S.E. 372; Long v. Melton, 218 N.C. 94, 10 S.E. 2d 699. I think the Hiatt case is sound law, is in accord with the general rule in a majority of the jurisdictions, and I do not agree to overruling it. I vote to reverse the judgment below.