Court Opinion

ID: 9689766
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:46:10.916731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:52.052997
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
McCALEB, Justice.
A rehearing was granted herein to reconsider our ruling that Article 6, Section 19.1 of the Constitution and Act 107 of 1954 (R.S. 48:441-460) do not authorize employment of the “quick taking” method for the expropriation of a servitude from which dirt fill may be obtained.
The salient facts are that the Department of Highways, seeking to take a temporary servitude on approximately 15 acres of Mrs. Bradford’s land in order to extract dirt fill for use in the construction of a highway between Alexandria and Pineville, proceeded under the “quick taking” statute (R.S. 48:441^160) and obtained an expropriation order from the district judge. Mrs. Bradford subsequently appeared and filed a motion to vacate the order on various grounds. The district judge sustained this motion, being of the opinion that the statute allowing ex parte proceedings applied only to expropriation of land for highway rights of way and that, since Mrs. Bradford’s land was not within the right of way, the expropriation order was invalid. The Department of Highways then sought relief in the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, but its application was denied. Thereafter writs were granted here and, upon original hearing, being substantially in agreement with the trial judge, we affirmed his ruling.
The rationale of our opinion was that the authority granted the Legislature by Section 19.1 of Article 6 of the Constitution, to provide for “ * * * the taking of property for highway purposes by orders rendered ex parte in expropriation suits prior to a judgment therein” did not encompass the taking of any property outside the right of way of the highway construe*1119tion project because, by giving to the constitutional and statutory provisions a strict construction, applicable to statutes in derogation of common rights, the phrase “for highway purposes” must be accorded this restrictive scope as the people and the Legislature did not intend that property of any nature outside the highway right of way should be taken without the necessity for the taking being first shown.
It is a rudimentary tenet of statutory construction in this State that “When a law is clear and free from all ambiguity, the letter of it is not to be disregarded, under the pretext of pursuing its spirit.” Article 13 of the Civil Code.
Section 19.1 of Article 6 of the Constitution states “The Legislature shall have authority to authorize the taking of property for highway purposes by orders rendered ex parte in expropriation suits prior to judgment therein * * *.” (Emphasis ours.)
This language, albeit broad in scope, is clear and explicit. Hence it is not subject to construction and should be applied according to the most usual signification in which the words used are generally understood. Article 14 of the Civil Code. The word “property” includes all property which is subject to the power of eminent domain under our law, i. e., — immovables (see R.S. 48:217; R.S. 48:222; R.S. 48:223), wherever situated — provided the taking is for a highway purpose, i. e., for use in the building, improvement, maintenance and repair of the State highway system (see R.S. 48:21), and not whether the land to be taken is or is not part of the highway right of way. If the framers of Section 19.1 had intended that the authorization to the Legislature to expropriate property by ex parte orders was to be limited to the property forming part of the highway right of way, it would have been easy to thus provide by appropriate language. Indeed, the very fact that the language used is of broad scope must be considered by us as a cogent reason for not restricting the meaning of the law to categories not plainly indicated by the lawmaker.
And this is the result, notwithstanding the employment of the rule that laws in derogation of the common right are to be strictly construed. For, even under this doctrine of construction the Court is without warrant to substitute for the phrase “for highway purposes,” as used in the constitutional article, the phrase “for highway right of way purposes,” as contended by Mrs. Bradford. See Article 20 of the Civil Code.1 On the contrary, assuming that we are permitted to search for legislative in*1121tent in its use of the phrase “for highway purposes”, it appears logical to examine the nature and kind of property the highway department was given the right to expropriate prior to adoption of Section 19.1 of Article 6. The original constitutional mandate (Section 19 of Article 6, as amended by Act 204 of 1926), that the Legislature shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a system of hardsurfaced State Highways and bridges, declared that the Legislature shall authorize the acquisition, by expropriation or otherwise, “of rights of way for highways, and drains therefor” and may provide “for the purchase or expropriation of property necessary or useful for the purpose of building or maintaining highways * *
Thus, by the vesting of specific authority in the Legislature to expropriate property for highway rights of way and drainage and also for any useful purpose in building or maintaining highways, it is now manifest to us that, when Section 19.1 of Article 6 provides for expropriation of property for highway purposes by ex parte orders, it means exactly what it says, and the language used should not be construed, under the guise of interpretation, to extend only to property within the path of the highway right of way.
It is to be borne in mind that Section 19.1 of Article 6 is nothing more than a constitutional authorization to the Legislature to enact an ex parte expropriation law for the taking of property for highway purposes. It, like the statute passed under its sanction (R.S. 48:441-460), is purely procedural in nature. Neither it, when read in the light of Section 19 of Article 6, nor the “quick taking” statute authorize the taking of any property for highway purposes, the expropriation of which has not already been provided for by law (see, as above noted, R.S. 48:217, R.S. 48:222 and R.S. 48:223).
The statute, Act 107 of 1954 (R.S. 48:441-460), as its title plainly indicates simply provides “ * * * an additional method by which the Department of Highways, may expropriate property for highway purposes prior to judgment in the trial court by declaration of taking, * * Being entirely procedural, it does not specify the nature or type of property which may be taken but only provides another method of taking.2 Therefore, in determining the right to expropriate, the substantive law must be consulted.3 It is for *1123this reason that the statute neither repeals, nor is in conflict with, any of the previous laws providing for expropriation of property for highway purposes. This, the statute makes crystal clear — for R.S. 48:458 declares:
“The right to take possession and title in advance of final judgment, as provided herein, is in addition to any right or authority conferred by the laws of this state under which expropriation proceedings may be conducted, and shall not be construed as abrogating, eliminating, or modifying any such right or authority.” (Emphasis ours.)
We are also convinced that there is no substance in Mrs. Bradford’s contention that two of the requirements of the expropriation petition, listed in R.S. 48:442, indicate a legislative intent to limit the scope of the “quick taking” statute to acquisition of property for right of way purposes only. This contention has reference to the second requirement that the chief engineer must certify that he has fixed the width of right of way of the highway in a manner sufficient to provide presently and in the future for the public interest, safety and convenience and the third requirement that the director, chief engineer and road design engineer must certify that the location and design of the proposed improvement are in accordance with best modem practices adopted in the interest of the safety and convenience of the traveling public.
These requirements of the recitals of the petition furnish no ground for a conclusion that the statute’s scope extends only to expropriation of land for a right of way. They appear to be solely for the purpose of having the Department Officials certify that they are performing their duty with respect to the taxpayers and the traveling public, in that the plans and specifications for the building of the new project are adequate to provide a modern highway which will not only accommodate present needs but also those of the foreseeable future.
Counsel for Mrs. Bradford further assert that Section 19.1 of Article 6 of the Constitution and R.S. 48 ¡441^160, as presently construed by us, offends the due process clause of the State and Federal Constitutions (Section 2 of Article 1 of the Louisiana Constitution and Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States) in that it deprives Mrs. Bradford of a right to a hearing on the necessity for the taking by authorizing the transfer of title by ex parte order.
This argument has been heretofore fully considered and disposed of adversely to Mrs. Bradford’s position in State, Through Department of Highways v. Macaluso, 235 La. 1019, 106 So.2d 455 and State, Through Department of Highways v. Guidry, 240 La. *1125516, 124 So.2d 531. Hence, additional comment would be superfluous.
Another point urged by counsel is that the “quick taking” method authorized by Section 19.1 of Article 6 of the Constitution, which was adopted in 1948, has been withdrawn by the people because another Section, 19.1 of Article 6, relative to the Department of Highways, was adopted in 1952 and that the subsequent amendment effectually supersedes the first Section 19.1.
We find no merit in this proposition. The new section, also numbered 19.1, relates exclusively to the creation of the Board of Highways, its powers, duties and functions. Manifestly, it was not intended to supersede, nor does it repeal by implication, the initial Section 19.1, which has solely to do with authorization of a “quick taking” method for expropriating property for highway purposes. The numbering of the amendment adopted in 1952 as Section 19.1 was obviously a clerical error.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment of the district court recalling its expropriation order of October 1, 1960, is annulled and reversed. It is now ordered that defendant’s motion to vacate the ex parte order of expropriation be and it is overruled, said expropriation order is reinstated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings in accordance with law and consistent with the views herein expressed.
HAMITER and HAMLIN, JJ., dissent being of the opinion that one original decree should be re-instated and made final.
SUMMERS, J., dissents from the opinion and decree on rehearing and adheres to the decree on original hearing and assigns additional reasons.

. It provides — “The distinction of laws into odcflus laws and laws, entitled to favor, with a View of narrowing or extending their construction, can not be made by those whose duty it is to interpret them.”

. For example, R.S. 48:441 reads “In any suit for the expropriation of property, * * * the department may acquire the property prior to judgment in the trial court in the manner provided in this Part.”

. In this case, R.S. 48:222 vests the Department with authority to expropriate land from which earth can be obtained for the construction and maintenance of highways.