Inhabitants of Winchester v. County Commissioners
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Petition of the town of Winchester for a writ of certiorari to quash the proceedings of the county commissioners of Middlesex in the assessment of damages to the estate of Elizabeth L. Gardiner for land taken for a highway.
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Petition of the town of Winchester for a writ of certiorari to quash the proceedings of the county commissioners of Middlesex in the assessment of damages to the estate of Elizabeth L. Gardiner for land taken for a highway. The case was reserved for the consideration of the full court by Devens, J., upon the following statement of facts: February 15, -1872, the commissioners completed the widening of Pleasant Street, in Winchester, and adopted the location, and the record thereof was made March 26, 1872, by which it appeared that on that day damages were awarded to Orrin W. Gardiner for |2200…
1Opinion of the CourtColt, J.
It is contended that the doings of the county commissioners ought to be set aside, because in proceedings for the assessment of damages for land taken for a highway, they allowed a petition for a jury, which had been seasonably filed, to be amended, and permitted the life tenant to become a party to it, after the expiration of the year allowed for such petition. This, it is said, overrides the statute of limitations, and gives a person standing in court who had lost it by lapse of time.
But a petition of this character is in the nature of a civil action. The commissioners exercise judicial…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Sanger v. City of NewtonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Gray v. Inhabitants of EverettMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
- Inhabitants of Dartmouth v. County CommissionersMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1891
- Porter v. City of NewtonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1882