Page images
PDF
EPUB

Argument for Defendant in Error.

on the city of Boston. Nor does it make any difference with the constitutionality of the statute that the legislature of Massachusetts has imposed the entire burden of this public improvement upon the city of Boston. Sweet v. Rechel, 159 U. S. 380; Willard v. Presbury, 14 Wall. 676; Bauman v. Ross, 167 U. S. 548; Webster v. Fargo, 181 U. S. 394; Williams v. Eggleston, 170 U. S. 304; Freeland v. Hastings, 10 Allen, 570; Kingman, Petr., 153 Massachusetts, 566; Old Colony Railroad v. Framingham Co., 153 Massachusetts, 561. It is familiar law, of course, that the decision of a Supreme Court of a State in construing its own constitution is binding on this court. Iowa Central R. R. Co. v. Iowa, 160 U. S. 389; Orr v. Gilman, 183 U. S. 278. This court is bound to give the same meaning to a state statute as was given it by the Supreme Court of the State. Stockard v. Morgan, 185 U. S. 27; Missouri Pacific Ry. v. Nebraska, 164 U. S. 403.

Massachusetts has a provision in its constitution in the fourth article, section 1, chap. 1, conferring upon the general court full power and authority to make "all manner of wholesome and reasonable orders, the same to be not repugnant or contrary to the constitution," and the Supreme Court of Massachusetts has said that this provision gives the legislature a wide authority, and one more comprehensive than that found in the constitutions of other States. Opinion of the Justices, 163 Massachusetts, 589; Turner v. Nye, 154 Massachusetts, 579; Kingman, Petr., supra; Norwood v. New York etc. R. R., 161 Massachusetts, 259; Commissioners v. Holyoke Water Power, 104 Massachusetts, 446.

The legislature, apart from these considerations, had the entire right to promote the beauty and attractiveness of a public park in the capital of the Commonwealth, and to prevent unreasonable encroachments upon the light and air which it had previously received. Knowlton v. Williams, 174 Massachusetts, 476.

The legislature of Massachusetts has imposed at various times a sewerage system, a water system, and a park system upon the city of Boston and the adjoining cities and towns, constituting what the legislature has called a Metropolitan District,

Opinion of the Court.

and the constitutionality of such statutes has been affirmed after careful consideration. Kingman, Petr., 153 Massachusetts, 570 (sewers); Adams, Petr., 165 Massachusetts, 497 (parks); De Las Casas, Petr., 178 Massachusetts, 213 (parks).

MR. JUSTICE BREWER, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court.

Counsel for plaintiffs in error state in their brief that "the single question in the case is, substantially, whether it is consistent with due process of law for a court to decree the actual destruction of property under a statute of eminent domain by which the State takes certain rights in it, making provision for compensation only by giving the owners a right of action against a city for their damages, while the city, which had no part in the taking, denies the validity of the provision for compensation, upon which the validity of the taking depends, and refuses to pay any damages unless and until it is held liable therefor in another proceeding, which is yet undetermined."

That the statute does not conflict with the constitution of the State is for this court settled by the decision of the state court. Merchants' Bank v. Pennsylvania, 167 U. S. 461, and cases cited; Rasmussen v. Idaho, 181 U. S. 198. The constitutional provision of the State and that found in the Fifth Amendment to the Federal Constitution are substantially alike. The Massachusetts provision reads: "Whenever the public exigencies require that the property of any individual should be appropriated to public uses, he shall receive a reasonable compensation therefor." Declaration of Rights, Art. X. And the Fifth Amendment says: "Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

So far as the Federal Constitution is concerned, it is settled by repeated decisions that a State may authorize the taking of possession prior to any payment, or even final determination of the amount of compensation. In Backus v. Fort Street Union Depot Company, 169 U. S. 557, 568, we said:

"Is it beyond the power of a State to authorize in condemnation cases the taking of possession prior to the final deter

Opinion of the Court.

mination of the amount of compensation and payment thereof? This question is fully answered by the opinions of this court in Cherokee Nation v. Southern Kansas Railway, 135 U. S. 641, and Sweet v. Rechel, 159 U. S. 380. There can be no doubt that if adequate provision for compensation is made authority may be granted for taking possession pending inquiry as to the amount which must be paid and before any final determination thereof."

We pass, therefore, to inquire as to the adequacy of the provision for compensation. No question is made as to the general solvency of the city of Boston. Although in the agreed facts it is stated that the city has no " moneys specially appropriated to any such purpose as that prescribed by the damage clauses of this statute, nor any express statutory power or authority to raise, appropriate or pay money for such a purpose," yet as this statute provides that "any person sustaining damage may recover such damage in the manner prescribed by law for obtaining payment for damages by any person whose land is taken in the laying out of a highway;" and as there is a general statute making suitable provision for such a recovery, the question of solvency does not seem to be material.

[ocr errors]

It is true that the city is not a party to the proceedings, and therefore not estopped to deny its liability by reason of having sought and obtained the condemnation. In that respect the statute differs from ordinary statutes giving to corporations, municipal or private, the right to condemn. While there is no technical estoppel by judicial proceeding, yet the state Supreme Court adjudged the validity of the statute, not merely in respect to the taking, but also in respect to the liability of the city. In its opinion it said (p. 481):

"It may be contended that if the legislature could take this right for the use of the public, it could not require the city of Boston to make compensation for it, but should have provided for the payment of damages from the treasury of the Commonwealth. This contention would limit too strictly the power of the legislature in the distribution of public burdens. Very wide discretion is left with the lawmaking power in this particular. The legislature may change the political subdivisions

Opinion of the Court.

of the Commonwealth by creating, changing, or abolishing particular cities, towns or counties. It may require any of them to bear such share of the public burdens as it deems just and equitable. This right has been exercised in a great variety of ways. Kingman, Petitioner, 153 Massachusetts, 566, and cases and statutes there cited."

And this decision is in harmony with prior adjudications of that court.

It is also true that the proceeding here taken is in many respects novel. Perhaps no case like it has arisen in this country. But as the court of last resort of Massachusetts has treated it as a condemnation, a taking for the public use, it is a taking for the use primarily of the citizens of Boston, and comes within the repeated rulings of the state court in respect to the competency of the legislature to cast the burden thereof upon the city. And while, as stated, there may be no technical estoppel by judgment, yet in view of these rulings it would be going too far to hold that it is essential that there be a judgment establishing the liability of the city before it can be affirmed that adequate provision for compensation has been made.

That there may be novel questions in respect to the measure of damage, the value of the property that is taken, does not avoid the fact that a solvent debtor, one whose solvency is not liable to go up or down like that of an individual, but is of substantial permanence, is provided, as well as a direct and appropriate means of ascertaining and enforcing the amount of all such damage. In view therefore of the prior decisions of the Supreme Court of the State as well as that in this case, we are of opinion that it cannot be held that there was a failure to make adequate provision for the payment of the damages sustained by the taking.

We have not considered any question of purely state cognizance, nor have we stopped to comment on the suggestion made by the Supreme Court of the State, that this statute might be sustained as an exercise of the police power, or if it could be so sustained, that it could be enforced without any provision for compensation. Considering simply the distinct

Statement of the Case.

proposition so ably presented. by the counsel for plaintiffs in error, we are of opinion that the statute in question cannot be adjudged in conflict with the Federal Constitution, and therefore the judgment of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is

Affirmed.

REETZ v. MICHIGAN.

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.

No. 143. Argued January 21, 1903.-Decided February 23, 1903.

A State has power to make reasonable provisions for determining the qualifications of those engaged in the practice of medicine and for punishing those who attempt to engage therein in defiance of such statutory provisions.

Act No. 237 of Michigan of 1889 creating a board of registration in medicine is not in conflict with the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. There is no provision in the Federal Constitution forbidding the State from granting to a tribunal, whether called a court or a board of registration, the final determination of a legal question. Due process of law is not necessarily judicial process, nor is the right of appeal essential to due process of law.

When a statute fixes the time and place of meeting of any board or tribunal no special notice to parties interested is required to constitute due process of law as the statute itself is sufficient notice.

A state statute requiring the registration of physicians and prohibiting those who are not so registered from practicing thereafter is not an ex post facto law as to a physician who had once engaged in practice, but who was held not to be qualified and whose registration was refused by the board of registration appointed under the statute, such statute not providing any punishment for his having practiced prior to the enactment thereof.

Acr No. 237 of the public acts of the State of Michigan (1899) directed the appointment of "a board of registration in medicine," to hold two regular meetings at specified times in each year at the state capitol, and additional meetings at such times and places as it might determine; required all persons engaging in the practice of medicine and surgery to obtain from such board a certificate of registration; prescribed the conditions

« PreviousContinue »