Deaconess Hospital v. Washington State Highway Commission

The king, it was once said, can do no wrong. Though so ancient an aphorism be held to declare the rule for today, clothing the king’s sovereign successor in the same immunity, this case demonstrates a silent corollary to it, that wrong or no wrong, whatever the successor sovereign would do, his officers and agents can long be delayed in the doing of it.

The Washington State Highway Commission, its Commissioners, and the Director of Highways intend to build state primary highway No. 2 as a multilane freeway through Spokane. They started origin and destination traffic surveys as early as 1947,…