Kelliher v. Miller
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint for flowing land, brought under Gen. Sts. c. 149. At the trial in the superior court the complainant introduced evidence tending to show that he was the owner of two contiguous lots of land situated on a small brook in Greenfield ; that the respondent erected in 1851, and had since then maintained, across the brook, a milldam which flowed back the water upon those lots of land in times of freshet or high water; and that such flowing had injured the land.
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Complaint for flowing land, brought under Gen. Sts. c. 149. At the trial in the superior court the complainant introduced evidence tending to show that he was the owner of two contiguous lots of land situated on a small brook in Greenfield ; that the respondent erected in 1851, and had since then maintained, across the brook, a milldam which flowed back the water upon those lots of land in times of freshet or high water; and that such flowing had injured the land. There was further testimony tending to show that the land on both sides of the brook was “on about the same level,” and that one…
1Opinion of the CourtFoster, J.
On the question of damages, evidence of the amount paid by the respondent for flowing other land was inadmissible. How much the complainant’s land had been injured *72was the question upon trial. The circumstances in the other case may have been very dissimilar, and the amount of damages paid to the other land-owner may have been greater or less than adequate compensation to him. The point has been already adjudged in Tyler v. Mather, 9 Gray, 183. And in the opinion of the court, it does not fall within the analogy of those cases Which permit the value of adjacent and similarly situated parcels…
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