US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

The compensation to be awarded under the Fifth Amendment for an actual physical taking of a part of a distinct tract of land includes not only the market value of the part appropriated, but the damage to the remainder resulting from such taking, embracing injury due to the use to which the part appropriated is to be devoted.

In this case, held that such damage to the unappropriated portion of the tract included that caused by cutting off access therefrom to the public road by flooding the land actually taken.

In determining the total amount of damages for land appropriated and for damages to remainder, the trial court may divide the total award and specify the amounts for each element of damage, and it is not error if the total award represents the difference between the value of the entire tract before the taking and that of the remainder after the taking. A less sum would not be the just compensation which the Fifth Amendment prescribes.

The facts are stated in the opinion. chanrobles.com-red

Page 219 U. S. 181