Burtraw v. Clark

Defendants dug a drain across the premises of the plaintiff, under drain proceedings that were void. It was admitted tq be a trespass. Upon the trial the defendants claimed the right to show that such ditch was a benefit, and not an injury, to plaintiff’s land, and that the damages should be nominal. The court refused to permit this, and confined the evidence of damages to the amount that would be required to place the land in its former condition, by filling the ditch, etc., which he held that plaintiff had the right to recover.

The law aims to compensate parties for injuries, and ordinarily…