Bates v. Ray
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint under the Gen. Sts. c. 149, for flowing the complainant’s land by a dam belonging to the respondents, from January 1, 1865, to August 10, 1868, the date of the complaint.
Read the full summary
Complaint under the Gen. Sts. c. 149, for flowing the complainant’s land by a dam belonging to the respondents, from January 1, 1865, to August 10, 1868, the date of the complaint. At the trial before a sheriff’s jury it appeared that the land flowed consisted of three tracts; the first in Mendon in this county; the second in Bellingham in the county of Norfolk, separated from the first by Charles River ; and the third in Bellingham, and not adjoining either of the other tracts; that the dam was originally built in 1821, raised higher in 1859, and purchased by the respondents in 1863; that on…
1Opinion of the CourtColt, J.
The venue, in the process by complaint for flowing damages, is regulated wholly by the Gen. Sts. c. 149} § 4. The person, whose land is overflowed or injured, may obtain compensation therefor by complaint, to be made to the superior court for the county where the land or any part of it lies. And the reasonable construction of the statute is, that all the land of the complainant, which is subject to injury from the saíne dam, though it consists of several distinct and separate parcels, situated in different counties, may be embraced in one complaint, brought in the county where any of it is…
2Cited by5 opinions
- Mears v. DoleMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Howe v. RayMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- Buell v. County of WorcesterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- State Ex Rel. Furey v. Superior Court for Douglas CountyWashington Supreme Court · 1937
- Ætna Mills v. Inhabitants of BrooklineMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1901