Traut v. New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error, No. 168, Jan. T. 1887, to C. P. Erie Co., to review a judgment for the plaintiff in an issue directed by the court, on an appeal from an award of viewers assessing damages for land taken by defendant company, for a right of way, at Sept. T. 1881, No. 156. Trunkey, J., absent. In 1881 the defendant Railroad Company located its road over and through the plaintiff’s farm.
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Error, No. 168, Jan. T. 1887, to C. P. Erie Co., to review a judgment for the plaintiff in an issue directed by the court, on an appeal from an award of viewers assessing damages for land taken by defendant company, for a right of way, at Sept. T. 1881, No. 156. Trunkey, J., absent. In 1881 the defendant Railroad Company located its road over and through the plaintiff’s farm. Viewers were, on motion of defendant, appointed to assess the damages and they awarded plaintiff $500. Erom this award an appeal was taken and the cause came on for trial Dec. 10, 1885, when the defendant moved the court…
1Opinion of the Court
Sterrett, J.,
The order directing the jury to view the premises, after they were empaneled and sworn, was neither improper nor illegal, and hence the first specification of error is not sustained.
Yiewers appointed under the railroad law are required “to meet at or upon the premises where the damages are alleged to be sustained,” and, having viewed the same, to “ estimate and determine whether any, and, if any, what amount of damages has been or may be sustained and to whom payable.” The manifest purpose of this requirement -is to afford the viewers an opportunity of acquiring fuller and more…