1907
Norfolk & W. Ry. Co. v. Lynchburg Cotton Mills Co.
Supreme Court of Virginia
106 Va. 376, 56 S.E. 146
Railway desired to build line from Forest to Concord around City of Lynchburg. Using a statute that allowed condemnation of property for the construction of branch lines to serve commercial industries, Railway sought to condemn lands of Mill. Circuit court denied petition and Supreme Court affirmed. Grants of power by the government were to be strictly construed, and that was especially true of the power of eminent domain. The building of a line to parallel the main track was outside the authority of the special statute and violative of another.
Summary prepared by Judge Jonathan Apgar, 23rd Judicial Circuit in Virginia, for the William & Mary Property Rights Project, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, William & Mary ©2019.
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