1955

Anderson v. Stuarts Draft Water Co.

Supreme Court of Virginia

197 Va. 36, 87 S.E.2d 756

Commissioner brought a declaratory judgment proceeding to determine its rights concerning lowering the grade of a road to make it safer, against the rights of Water Co. to occupy the subsurface of the road with its pipeline. Trial court held that water easement was a property right that could not be taken away without constitutionally required just compensation. Trial court dismissed action. Supreme Court reversed and remanded. The public right in the highway was not limited to the surface but extended upward and downward for a distance sufficient to accommodate all proper uses for the road. The Highway Department had a right superior to that of the Water Co. to change the grade of the road. The water line must be changed at the expense of the Water Co. in such a way as to not obstruct the superior right of the Highway Department to improve the grade of the road.

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