Opinion

Perth Amboy Trust Co. v. Board of Aldermen

  • 75 N.J.L. 291
  • 68 A. 84
  • 1907 N.J. Sup. Ct. LEXIS 9
Court
Supreme Court of New Jersey
Filed
Dec 4, 1907
Status
Published
Author
Garrison
On the bench
Garrison
Cited by
2 cases
Authority
More cited than 58.4%

The opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Garrison, J.

The excuse of the city for levying the assessment in question in the face of the condition of dedication which it had accepted is that it had no power to accede to the condition upon which the land for Sheridan street was given by its owners to the public. Tlie claim of the city is that the dedication should stand, but that the condition upon which it was made should be ignored. We cannot take this view of the legal situation. The condition, so far as it affected Sheridan street, being limited to a single expenditure for a specific purpose, was in effect the price the city was willing to pay for the land. If the city had power to buy the land at such sum, it had power to agree to expend such sum upon the land as the condition of its perpetual dedication to public uses. After the expenditure of the sum thus required the public have no more standing to exact payment from the abutting owners than the owners have to exact damages from the public for taking the land. Dill. Mun. Corp. (3d ed.), § 632, and cases cited in the notes.

The presence in the deed of dedication of conditions not involved in the present controversy does not militate against the views that have been expressed and need not, in our judgment, be further considered in the present proceeding. The assessment brought up by this writ of certiorari is set aside, with costs.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.