Trustees of the Wabash & Erie Canal v. Spears

Suit by Spears and Case, commenced in 1854, to recover damages occasioned by the overflow of their land, produced by the action of the Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal in raising a dam across the Wabash river, and in cutting waste ways through embankments, during the period between 1848 and 1854.

Judgment below for the plaintiff.

The damages were not occasioned by the taking of the lands or materials of the plaintiffs, in the sense of the provision of the charter of the corporation (the internal improvement act of 1836), and, hence, were not recoverable in the special mode therein…