Town of Morganton v. Hutton & Bourbonnais Co.

The first question presented by the assignments of error is: What estate did plaintiff acquire by the condemnation proceeding? Was it, as plaintiff contends, .an unqualified estate in fee simple, or was it, as defendants contend, an easement leaving the fee in defendants in the condemnation proceeding with the right to harvest the timber grown thereon?

The answer is to be found by determining the extent of the power which plaintiff had to take and the extent to which such power was exercised.

The power of eminent domain, that is, the right to take private property for public use, is inherent in…