State v. Messenger
Supreme Court of Minnesota
Complaint was made against the defendant, before a justice of the peace, for obstructing a public highway, known as the St. Paul and Hastings river road. The defendant, having been arrested and brought before the justice, pleaded not guilty, waived a jury trial, and was tried, convicted and sentenced.
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Complaint was made against the defendant, before a justice of the peace, for obstructing a public highway, known as the St. Paul and Hastings river road. The defendant, having been arrested and brought before the justice, pleaded not guilty, waived a jury trial, and was tried, convicted and sentenced. He appealed, on questions of law alone, to the district court for Dakota county, Crosby, J., presiding, where the conviction was affirmed, and he thereupon appealed to this court. At the trial before the justice, it appeared that on May 28, 1878, the defendant had built a fence across the road…
1Opinion of the CourtCornell, J.
The statute whose constitutionality is brought. in question in this case, though published among the Special Laws, (Sp. Laws 1878, c. 191,) is clearly a public, and not a private act. Potter’s Dwarris, 53. Its purpose, as indicated both in the body of the act and by its title, was to legalize and establish, as a public highway, an old travelled road ■extending through several towns in Dakota county, which had been in use by the public for several years as a common highway; and all the provisions of the enactment are directed to that end. This fixes the character of the law as a public one, of…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Bloodgood v. Mohawk & Hudson RailroadNew York Supreme Court · 1837
- Rexford v. . KnightNew York Court of Appeals · 1854
- Langford v. County CommissionersSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1871
- Bruggerman v. TrueSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1878
3Cited by25 opinions
- State ex rel. Douglas v. WestfallSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1902
- Martin v. TylerNorth Dakota Supreme Court · 1894
- Bishop v. MahikoHawaii Supreme Court · 1940
- Kozisek v. BrighamSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1926
- Appleton v. City of NewtonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1901
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