Spelman v. City of Portage
Wisconsin Supreme Court
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Qohinnbia County. The complaint alleges that the defendant city, in 1874, constructed a highway within its municipal limits, about two miles in length, raised about four feet above the general level of the ground, across a flat tract of marsh land dividing the ■Wisconsin and Baraboo rivers; that the Wisconsin river frequently overflows its banks, and from time immemorial it lias been the natural course of tbe water to pass over a portion of…
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APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Qohinnbia County. The complaint alleges that the defendant city, in 1874, constructed a highway within its municipal limits, about two miles in length, raised about four feet above the general level of the ground, across a flat tract of marsh land dividing the ■Wisconsin and Baraboo rivers; that the Wisconsin river frequently overflows its banks, and from time immemorial it lias been the natural course of tbe water to pass over a portion of said flat land, and flow from tbe Wisconsin, river to tbe low land, beyond tbe place where said bigbway is constructed,…
1Opinion of the CourtCole, J.
Under the charge of the circuit court, the jury must have found that the city authorities constructed, or caused to be constructed, the graded street or causeway across the bottom in a negligent and unskillful manner, without providing sufficient culverts, bridges or sewers to enable the waters of the Wisconsin river, at times of high water, to pass through or flow in their natural course toward or into the Baraboo river, and that, as a consequence, the waters were obstructed, and overflowed the premises of the plaintiff, and caused the injury of which he complains. There was certainly…
2Cited by13 opinions
- Mulcairns v. City of JanesvilleWisconsin Supreme Court · 1886
- Town of Jefferson v. HicksSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1909
- Case v. HoffmanWisconsin Supreme Court · 1893
- Matson v. Dane CountyWisconsin Supreme Court · 1920
- Fordham v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.Montana Supreme Court · 1904
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