Court Opinion

ID: 9714721
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:44:15.154724+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:28.150122
License: Public Domain

Boslaugh, J.,
dissenting.
The parties stipulated that the defendant was the owner of all the improvements on the land listed in an inventory dated October 9, 1968, except the quonset building that was placed on the land in 1954. As I view the record, the question presented is whether the 1953 statute is applicable in this case so that the defendant’s failure to obtain permission from the plaintiff results in the quonset building being considered an improvement to the land with the defendant having no right to reimbursement for the building.
In Todd v. Board of Educational Lands & Funds, 154 Neb. 606, 48 N. W. 2d 706, a statute requiring the written approval of the board to an assignment of the lease was held not applicable to existing leases. This court said: .“The Board of Educational Lands and Funds in leasing school land is limited by the authority granted *634it by the Legislature. It has no other power. The law on the subject in force at the time of the execution of a lease is a part thereof and determines the rights of the lessee. A lease made in compliance with the direction and permission of the Legislature between the state and the lessee is a contract and is property. The rights resulting from the contract vest on its execution and delivery. The state may not subsequently by legislation deprive the lessee of any substantial right secured to him by the lease. Constitutional guaranties and prohibitions safeguard it. These include the mandate that no state shall deprive any person of property without due process of law; no state shall enact any law impairing the obligations of a contract; and the property of no person shall be taken or damaged for public use without compensation. State v. Platte Valley Public Power & Irrigation Dist., 147 Neb. 289, 23 N. W. 2d 300, 166 A. L. R. 1196; Reavis v. State, 140 Neb. 442, 300 N. W. 344; Stanser v. Cather, 85 Neb. 305, 123 N. W. 316; Hile v. Troupe, supra; State ex rel. Patterson v. Wenzel, 55 Neb. 210, 75 N. W. 579; State ex rel. Beer v. Thayer, 46 Neb. 137, 64 N. W. 700; State ex rel. Brown v. McPeak, 31 Neb. 139, 47 N. W. 691.”
In my opinion the right to construct improvements on the leasehold, without the permission of the board, and to receive reimbursement at the expiration of the lease was a substantial right of which the defendant could not be deprived without his consent.
McCown, J., joins in this dissent.