Scott v. Nickum

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Scott v. Nickum, 193 Pa. 371 (Pa. 1899)
44 A. 437; 1899 Pa. LEXIS 1129
Dean, Fell, Gbeen, McCollum, Mitchell, Stebbett

Scott v. Nickum

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

In view of all the evidence on which the plaintiffs relied, the learned president of the 83d judicial district, who specially presided at the trial, correctly held that there was no such taking of the property in question as invested the commonwealth with the title thereto in perpetuity, and he accordingly instructed the' jury that no title passed by virtue of the sheriff’s sale to the plaintiff’s predecessor in title, and consequently none to the plaintiff himself, and he therefore directed the jury that them verdict should be for the defendant. In this he was so clearly right that neither of the questions involved in the assignment of error to the charge requires discussion. In the absence of any evidence of title in the plaintiffs, it would have been plain error to submit the case to the jury.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
Mary M. Scott, Mary S. Townsend, Annie W. Strong, M. H. Taylor and C. H. Strong, Executors of William L. Scott v. Lewis S. Nickum
Status
Published
Syllabus
Canals—Damages—Taking of property in perpetuity. The payment of damages by the commonwealth to a landowner for injuries caused to land by the overflow of a canal does not constitute such a taking of the property as invests the commonwealth with the title thereto in perpetuity.