by John Marshall Harlan

“ But, in determining whether the legislature, in a particular enactment, has passed the limits of its constitutional authority, every reasonable presumption must be indulged in favor of the validity of such enactment. It must be regarded as valid, unless it can be clearly shown to be in conflict with the constitution. It is a well-settled rule of constitutional exposition that, if a statute may or may not be, according to circumstances, within the limits of legislative authority, the existence of the circumstances necessary to support it must be presumed. ”

“ It is equally clear that an adequate provision is made when the statute, authorizing a public municipal corporation to take private property for public uses, directs the regular ascertainment, without improper delay and in some legal mode, of the damages sustained by the owner, and gives him an unqualified right to a judgment for the amount of such damages, which can be enforced-that is, collected-by judicial process. ”

“ The former surface will be deeply buried under the earth that will have been brought upon it, and the changed condition is to be perpetual. If the old property is restored, the new property which has been annexed to it must go with it. This would be very unjust to the city, which has been compelled to incur the great expense of destroying the nuisance, unless the owner were required to make a reasonable compensation, which might be far beyond the amount of the damages to which he would be entitled. ”

“ The Massachusetts statute of 1867, unlike the Indiana statute, expressly declares that, from the moment the property was taken, in accordance with its provisions, the title should be vested in the city of Boston, that the city should thereupon proceed forthwith with the work of raising the grade, and that the owner should have the right, for the prompt enforcement of which adequate provision was made, to obtain reasonable compensation for his property. ”

“ That case arose under a statute of Massachusetts authorizing the manager of a railroad owned by the commonwealth to take land for a passenger station to be used by that and other railroads, and providing no other mode of compensation to the owner than that the land should be paid for out of the earnings of the railroad. ”

“ The territory of which the lot in controversy formed a part was in such condition, for many years, as to require, or at least to justify, legislative interference under the power to ordain and establish wholesome and reasonable regulations conducive to the good and welfare of the people, and not inconsistent with the fundamental law of the commonwealth. ”

“ Railroad Co., 18 Wend. 9, 17, 18, which was a case of private property taken for a railroad company, Chancellor Walworth said that the payment of the damages a warded, or the deposit of the amount as prescribed, was in the nature of a condition precedent, not only to the acquisition of the legal title to the land, but also to the right to enter and take permanent possession of the land for the use of the corporation. ”

“ Indianapolis, 103 U.S. 599, 603, cited by the plaintiffs, the controlling question was whether the owner of certain lands, taken under an Indiana statute for a public object, had been divested of his title. And that question depended upon the construction of the clause of the state constitution, providing 'that no man's particular services shall be demanded, or property taken or applied to public use, without the consent of his representatives, or without just compensation being made therefor.' Const. Ind. ”

“ In the same case it was objected that, as the act authorized the city to first take the land, and thereby transfer to itself the fee, without the consent of the owners, and as the only object of the legislature was to abate a nuisance, the act should only have granted power to occupy the land until its object was effected by raising the grade, which being done, the land should have been restored to the owners, applying the benefit received therefrom in offset to the damages. ”

“ Numerous authorities have been cited which, it is supposed, are in conflict with the views we have expressed. But a careful examination will show that the cases cited are distinguishable from those to which we have referred. ”