Swan v. County of Middlesex
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Petition to the county commissioners by Benjamin L. Swan and five others, heirs of Benjamin L. Swan, deceased, for a jury to estimate the damages sustained by taking, to widen High Street in Medford, a strip of land three feet and a half wide from the front of a lot on which was a dwelling-house; a fence and trees were on the strip taken.
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Petition to the county commissioners by Benjamin L. Swan and five others, heirs of Benjamin L. Swan, deceased, for a jury to estimate the damages sustained by taking, to widen High Street in Medford, a strip of land three feet and a half wide from the front of a lot on which was a dwelling-house; a fence and trees were on the strip taken. Trial before the sheriff" of Middlesex, who returned with the verdict of the jury a certificate of his rulings as follows: “At the trial the petitioners offered evidence.tending to show the position of the fence, and the value of the trees to the occupants…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, J.
It is well settled in this Commonwealth that, when the value of real estate is in controversy, opinions of persons acquainted with its value are admissible in evidence. These opinions are admitted, not as being the opinions of experts, strictly .so called, for they are not founded on special study or training or professional experience; but rather from necessity, upon the ground that they depend upon knowledge which any one may acquire, but which the jury may not have, and that they are the most satisfactory, and often the only attainable, evidence of the fact to be proved. Dwight v. County…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Wood v. GoodridgeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1850
- Bigelow v. DawsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1850
3Cited by35 opinions
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- Blagen v. ThompsonOregon Supreme Court · 1892
- Commonwealth v. DorseyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
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