NINTH AVENUE WIDENING. 



SUPREME COURT— GENERAL TERM.— Judge Pratt. 



The general term of this court, at the last session thereof, in the 

 case of the Park Commissioners against Armstrong, held that the 

 fee of the land included in the park became vested in the city of 

 Brooklyn, under chapter 340 of the Laws of 1861. 



The Act of May 7, 1869, directs Ninth avenue to be widened so 

 as to include a portion of the land included in the park. 



By section 2 of said act the Commissioners of Estimate and 

 Assessments are directed to estimate the damage and expense of such 

 widening, together with the amount of damages sustained by owners 

 of land so taken. 



It having been settled that the city of Brooklyn is the owner, for 

 the purposes of a park, of the land in question, it only remains to 

 determine whether the Commissioners of Estimate have adopted an 

 erroneous rule in making their estimate. 



The taking of this land for the use contemplated was probably 

 considered by the Legislature as imposing upon it a perpetual ease- 

 ment, and rendering it valueless to the owner (the city of Brooklyn) 

 as a park, and hence the Legislature provided that the damage to the 

 owner should be estimated and paid. 



I cannot perceive upon what ground it can be claimed that the 

 estimate is erroneous. It does not appear that the land taken will 

 not compare favorably in value with any included in the park, and 

 taking the whole park at its cost, we find that the quantity taken 

 here leaves the same proportion to the whole park that the estimated 

 damages bears to the whole price paid. If, then, the Legislature 

 considered that the easement was to be perpetual, so as to forever 

 divest the city of the use of this land as a park, there can be no 

 error in the estimate as made up by the Commissioners. 



