Peel v. Burk

This case involves a private condemnation for defendants’ proposed drainage ditch (35 feet wide, 11 feet deep) through properties of 14 landowners, the purpose being to drain defendants’ land.

The genesis of chapter 465, The Code, purported to grant the condemnation right defendants seek to invoke, dates back almost 100 years. The then public need to put agricultural land in production and to drain marshes has given way to a public policy promoting the removal of land from production and the preservation of natural environment as ecologically sound.

I doubt the record before us discloses the…