Horace Harmon Lurton

“ The defense of the city, that it was but the agent of the state in improving the highways of the city, and therefore immune, because the state was immune, vanishes in the face of the fact that the state had absolutely coupled authority in the matter with an obligation to make compensation. The city had no authority save that which came from the very act which imposed an obligation. It would seem to need no argument to establish the contention that the obligation to make compensation to these plaintiffs in error could not be destroyed by subsequent legislation. ”

“ This was to deprive the plaintiffs in error of a right which had vested before the repealing act,-a right which was in every sense a property right. Nothing remained to be done to complete the plaintiffs' right to compensation except the ascertainment of the amount of damage to their property. The right of the plaintiffs in error was fixed by the law in force when their property was damaged for public purposes, and the right so vested cannot be defeated by subsequent legislation. ”

“ People ex rel. Fountain v. Westchester County, 4 Barb. 64, are cases arising under street or highway statutes. The principle has been applied in reference to rights accruing under a variety of statutes when affected by a subsequent change of the law. ”