886 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
The question of expropriation needs little attention here for, 
in the chapter on charters, the general provisions have already 
been dealt with. It was noticed there that a number of char¬ 
ters provided that the advantages as well as the disadvantages 
accruing to owners of property to be expropriated shall be taken 
into consideration. To what extent owners were compensated 
in “ advantages ” is difficult to ascertain. Owners were to re¬ 
ceive “just compensation, ” but what constitutes just compensa¬ 
tion was not defined by law until 1872. “ The commissioners 
shall view the premises described in the petition, and hear the 
allegations of the parties, and shall appraise, ascertain, and de¬ 
termine the value of each tract or parcel of land proposed to be 
taken, with the improvements thereon, and of each separate es¬ 
tate therein, and the damages sustained by the owner by reason 
of the taking thereof, and fix the compensation to be made to 
each of such owners thereof; and in fixing the amount of such 
compensation, said commissioners shall not make any allowance 
or deduction from the value of the real estate taken on account 
of any real or supposed benefits which the parties in interest may 
derive from the construction of the proposed railroad ’, or the con¬ 
struction of the proposed improvement connected with such 
road, for which such real estate may be taken; but special bene¬ 
fits to the real estate adjoining the lands so taken, shall be al¬ 
lowed in deduction of any damages sustained by the owner to 
such adjoining real estate. ” 1 This law invalidated one of the 
most objectionable features of the first charters. An early court 
decision 2 declared that private property can be taken only for 
public use , and then only when full compensation is given. 
And the public use, “ in view of which the power of expro¬ 
priation is delegated to railways, is the right of the public to 
carriage on tender of reasonable compensation, and power of 
the state to control the franchise and regulate toll. ” 3 The ex¬ 
istence of a necessity for taking property for the use of the cor¬ 
poration is distinctly made a condition precedent to such rights 
1 An act in relation to railroads and the organization of railroad com¬ 
panies, Apr. 1, 1872, Ch. 119, §§15-22. 
2 Thien vs. Voegtlander , 3 Wis., 415. 
3 Whiting vs. S. & F. R. R., 25 Wis., 167. 
