Chapter VII: Conclusion

Special assessments as an equitable method of distributing the cost of land acquirement have the great advantage of a thorough testing. Judicial decisions universally sustain their legality. Ample precedents prove their practicability as financial expedients. Several cities in the United States are so completely satisfied with the results of an experience of from five to fifteen years with this “American device” that the suggestion of experimenting with the European method of distributing the cost known as excess condemnation meets with little enthusiasm. It remains, however, to consider the applicability of excess condemnation to American conditions.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] Constitution of Wisconsin, Article XI, Section 3.

[30] Acts of Wisconsin, 1891, Chapter 179, Section 8. Special laws of Minnesota, 1889, Chapter 30, Section 2.

[31] _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, April, 1893.

[32] Colonial Laws of New York, Vol. I, pp. 269-271.

[33] 4 Massachusetts Colonial Records, Part I, p. 327.

[34] Cited in Hammett _vs._ Philadelphia, 65 Pa. St. 158.

[35] Ancient Charters of Massachusetts, pp. 389, 651.

[36] Tenth Session Laws of New York, Chapter 88, p. 544.

[37] Theory and Practice of Special Assessments. Transactions. American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 38. Paper 817.

[38] Constitution of Ohio, with Amendments proposed by Constitutional Convention of 1912, Article XVIII, Section 11.

[39] Acts of Massachusetts, 1882, Chapter 154, Section 7.

[40] Report of the Chief Engineer of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, October 19, 1907, pp. 15 ff.

[41] Op. cit. pp. 20 ff.

[42] Rose Reis _vs._ City of New York, _et al._, 188 N. Y. 58.

[43] See Appendix, p. 249 for text.

[44] Special Laws of Minnesota, 1889, Chapter 30, Section 4.

[45] Charter of Kansas City, Article 13, Section 8 ff.

[46] Charter of Kansas City, Article 13, Sections 33 and 34.

[47] Charter of Kansas City, Article 13, Section 23.

[48] See p. 28.

[49] See Appendix, p. 250.

[50] Charter of Kansas City, Article 13, Section 19.

[51] Charter of Kansas City, Article 13, Section 24.

[52] Report of Board of Park Commissioners, 1909, Table 22.

[53] Londoner _vs._ City and County of Denver, decided November 22, 1911.

[54] Denver Municipal Facts, 1911, Vol. 23, p. 14.

[55] Op. cit. Issue of March 11, 1911, p. 8.

[56] Londoner _vs._ City and County of Denver.

[57] Acts of Indiana, 1911, Chapter 231.

[58] Ibid., Chapter 231, Section 14. Parts of the text are given in Appendix, p. 254.

[59] Acts of Indiana, 1911, Chapter 231, Section 17.

[60] Acts of 1911, Chapter 231, Section 19.

[61] Acts of 1911, Chapter 231, Section 20.

[62] Acts of Massachusetts, 1906, Chapter 393; and Revised Laws,