Drainage District v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad

I am unable to concur in the doctrine set forth in the eighth paragraph of the syllabus. To hold that this court *16has the right or the power arbitrarily to assume that the cost of excavating the. cut-off channel is a proper deduction to be made from the special assessment of benefits made by the proper officers of the district, and has jurisdiction to offset the same against the sum assessed, is, in my judgment, opposed to every authority upon the subject, and is unauthorized by law. No authority has been presented by the appellant or in the opinion to sustain such an offset, and every…