1886

Davenport & Morris v. Richmond City

Supreme Court of Virginia

81 Va. 636

In 1866 and 1867, City sold lots to landowners for use as powder magazines. In 1882, City passed an ordinance that declared such magazines a danger to life and property and required that they be removed at owners expense to a remote location. Trial court found owners in violation of ordinance and fined them. Supreme Court affirmed. Landowners argued that the ordinance was unconstitutional because it impaired rights the City had previously granted and it took property without compensation. Court held that ordinance was a valid exercise of police power to withdraw a privilege previously granted to the owners. The owners were not due any compensation as there was no taking of property, but only a change in the mode in which the chartered rights were to be exercised. The power to restrain an injurious use of private property was very different from eminent domain. It was not a taking of property for public use, but a restraint of an obnoxious use by the owners. It was not up to the courts to determine if police power was judiciously exercised.

Back to Case Finder Main Page
Volume One Indexes:
To Case Name Index
To Topic Index
To Date Index
To Code Section Index