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388 COMPTON v. THE SUSQUEHANNA RAIL ROAD.
cuting that work, deemed to be of public utility, they have been
authorized to cause lands, held as private property, to be taken
and condemned to that use; and, according to the mode specified,
the owners are allowed to obtain a compensation for the injury
they may sustain by the construction of the proposed rail road over
their lands, (a) It has not been intimated that this legislative
enactment is, in this or in any other respect, unconstitutional; and
therefore, the only questions which this court can now be called
upon to consider are such as relate to the fairness of the conduct
of the body politic in the execution of their act of incorporation.
By its fifteenth section it is declared, that in all cases where the
company cannot agree with the owner of any land which may be
wanted for their road, they may have it condemned by a jury to
their use. It is not said that the damages must be ascertained by
a jury before the company enters upon the land for the purpose of
constructing their road; nor is any time specified within which
the inquisition must be taken; but it is declared that the inquisi-
tion shall be returned to the clerk of the county, and shall be
confirmed by the court at its next session, if no sufficient cause to
the contrary be shewn; and when confirmed shall be recorded;
and further, that upon the payment of the valuation to the owner
of the land, the estate and interest therein shall vest in the com-
pany. But it is manifest from the general nature of this provision,
that if the benefit estimated by the jury as likely to result to the
owner from conducting the rail road through his land should
amount to a total extinguishment of his claim for damages, that
then the estate and interest must vest in the company immediately
upon the confirmation of the inquisition; because, where nothing
is required to be paid by the corporation, the confirmation of the
inquisition by the court must be considered as that last act upon
which the vesting of the interest in the company is to depend.
The objects of the inquisition are to designate the land taken,
and to compensate the owner to the full extent of the injury be
may sustain. Hence it cannot be indispensably necessary, in all
cases, to have it taken before the company proceed to construct
their road; because, the estimate of damages may, in many cases,
be as accurately made after the road has been nearly or en-
tirely completed, as before the land was entered upon for the pur-
pose of its construction. Indeed as to all deep cuttings, or high
(a) 1827, ch. 72.
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