Taxation—Eminent Domain. 
387 
of condemnation, however objectionable may be the mode pre¬ 
scribed by the law for determining that such necessity exists. 1 
The constitution contains a similar provision. “ No municipal 
corporation shall take private property for public use against 
the consent of the owner, without the necessity thereof being 
first established ^by the verdict of a jury. 2 A later court deci¬ 
sion declared the power of expropriation to be political and not 
judicial. 3 
These are the most important court decisions bearing on the 
subject of eminent domain. How much was actually paid, and 
by what methods damages were awarded in practice seems to be 
difficult to determine. In many cases, of course, the right of 
way was donated. And even where it had to be purchased the 
low price of land kept this item of expense of railroad compan¬ 
ies down to a relatively low figure. Occasionally the news¬ 
papers protest against the methods employed by the railroads, 4 
but evidence on which to base a judgment as to the justice of 
these charges is wanting. 
The annual crop of special legislation has been continued into 
the present. A photograph of the backs of the volumes con¬ 
taining the session laws would alone be a revelation. The ear¬ 
lier volumes contain both the private and public laws, and they 
are small volumes at that. Then as the state is developed, the 
size of the volumes increases, the private and the public acts are 
each published in separate volumes, and the volume containing 
the special laws soon reaches extraordinary dimensions, when 
compared with that containing general acts. The attempt to 
pass a general law in 1853 failed, not because of opposition 
among the people and the press, but because the railroad “ pro¬ 
jector ” saw in it the despoiler of his selfish designs. To have 
carefully examined the charters applied for, would have kept the 
J 34 Wis., 271; 6 Wis., 636; 27 Wis., 108; 33 Wis., 413. 
2 Constitution of Wis., Art. XI, §2. 
3 48 Wis., 385; see also 10 Wis., 242; 25 Wis., 60. 
4 Sentinel and Gazette , March 5, 1850, contains resolutions passed at 
a meeting of “ farmers and citizens ” condemning a railroad company for 
its arbitrary and unjust procedure in the matter of expropriation. In a 
subsequent issue the railroad officials deny the charges. 
