Pumpelly v. Green Bay Co.
Supreme Court of the United States
Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Wisconsin; the case being thus: The Constitution of Wisconsin ordains that- “The property of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation therefor.”
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Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Wisconsin; the case being thus: The Constitution of Wisconsin ordains that- “The property of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation therefor.” "With this provision in force as fundamental law, one Pumpelly, in September, 1867, brought trespass on the case against the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company for overflowing 640 acres of his land, by means of a dam erected across Fox River, the northern outlet of Lake Winnebago, by which, as the declaration averred, the waters of the lake were raised…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Miller
The second plea, the most important, is technically liable to the objection that it relies on two substantially different grounds of defence, but as the demurrer was general and not special, and as the part of it which sets up the first of these defences may be treated as- mere inducement to the other, we will consider whether there is found in the plea any sufficient defence to the cause of action set out in the declaration.
This first part of the plea is clearly designed to present this defence, that the dam was authorized by statute and built in conformity to the specific requirements of…
2Cited by525 opinions
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- Mugler v. KansasSupreme Court of the United States · 1887
- First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los AngelesSupreme Court of the United States · 1987
- Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. ChicagoSupreme Court of the United States · 1897
- United States v. CausbySupreme Court of the United States · 1946
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