sioner here was also a Commissioner, and where the General 

 Term of the Fifth Department held that Commissioners, 

 as soon as organized, become a Court. In you are united 

 the dual functions of judges and jurors, and you derive 

 your powers as a Court from the organic law of the State — 

 the Constitution — and also from the language of the ISew 

 Park Act itself. You are the judges of the values — the 

 sole judges— and, in the absence of any substantial error 

 as to the admission of evidence, no successful appeal can 

 lie from your finding. 



The position of the City here is not like that of an 

 ordinary defendant ; it occupies rather the position of a 

 trustee — of a trustee acting in a fiduciary capacity for the 

 great body of citizens, and so bound to see that the City is 

 not mulcted in any enormous amount. 



What is the character of this proceeding? It is a 

 proceeding under the law of eminent domain — that great 

 branch of law under which private property is taken for 

 public use. It is a sovereign power which has existed for 

 centuries ; it is a sovereign attribute which is possessed by 

 every State, which arises from no contract or arrange- 

 ment between the State and the private individual, but 

 has its foundation in the imperative law of necessity. As 

 that eminent jurist, Judge Cooley, said in a great Michigan 

 case, it would be impossible for a government to further 

 the prosperity of its people if, at the option of individuals, 

 the right to exercise eminent domain might be withheld. 

 It is only necessary to show the importance of this branch 

 of the law, to point out the fact that without it every 

 public improvement would be stopped. There would be 

 no streets or highways, no railroads or canals, no bridges, 

 no parks or public places, nor any improvements of any 

 kind. 



Now, while it is true that all sovereignty in a constitu- 

 tional government like ours rests in the people, the 

 people bestow their powers on the Legislature, and the 

 Legislature, by virtue of this bestowal, has the right to 

 exercise eminent domain. And as this right of eminent 



