Section 117. Since the power to condemn private property against the will of the owner is an extraordinary one, founded upon public necessity, the power must be strictly pursued and the manner for its exercise strictly followed.3

2 Dillon, Mun. Corp. (3rd Ed.), par. 584; Vol. I, No. 2, Bench and Bar, p. 112.

Where the municipal authorities have failed to follow the provisions of the charter, or have exceeded the jurisdiction which it confers, the remedy of the property owner for the review and correction of the proceedings is by the Writ of Certiorari.4

Whenever notice of the proceedings to take property for public use is required to be given, such notice forms the basis of jurisdiction and must be given, else the proceedings are void.5

Some of the State constitutions require that the compensation shall be assessed by a jury, in other jurisdictions by commissioners, in which cases the manner prescribed must be followed.

Yet, in the absence of any organic law, it is competent for the legislature to provide a just mode.

The rule is quite universally upheld, that the appropriation of private property by condemnation is an exercise of sovereign power, and statutes conferring such power, being in derogation of the common law, must be strictly construed and the exercise of the right kept in strict conformity to the power conferred. 6