Chapman v. Perron

Plaintiffs filed a petition for a statutory way of necessity across land owned by defendants. The trial court found that, although the petition would “probably” be granted on the facts, with a modification of the proposed route, the current statute, as amended in 1979, violates Article I, section 18, of the Oregon Constitution, because it does not require a “finding” that the public, as well as the petitioner, needs to have ingress and egress to the property. We conclude that the statute does not violate the Oregon Constitution and reverse and remand.

The procedure for establishing a statutory…