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RE: LAS VEGAS VALLEY WATER DISTRICT Los Angeles, January 28, 1949 80-8 Mr* Calvin M* Cory: I would like to have your opinion whether there is any constitutional prohibition in Nevada against a law authorizing the Public Service Commission to fix the damages and compensation to be paid for the taking of any property of a public utility in eminent domain proceedings by the State, any public corporation, district, or other sub­division of the State* My thought is that if we were unable to agree upon the value of LVLkWCo* with the new district at Las Vegas, we might prefer to have the compensation determined by the Public Service Commission rather than a jury* There is such a statute In California, be­ing Section-47 of our Public utilities Act - Deering’s general Act 6386. There Is in the California constitution, however, a provision specifically authorizing the Legislature to dele­gate such power to the Commission* The California statute permits the condemnor to file a petition with the Public Utilities Commission to have the value determined, after the determination of which the condemnor Is entitled to have a court conduct the remainder of the proceedings leading up to a condemnation judgment* The law that I have in mind would permit either condemnor or eondemnee to stay a proceeding in court until the Public Utilities Commission on petition had determined the value of the public utility property to be taken* I can find nothing In the Nevada constitution which would prohibit the enactment of such a law by the Legislature. I do not be- * lieve that such a law would violate the provisions of the Nevada constitution protecting the right of trial by jury. See discus­sion on this point In 18 American Jurisprudence, pages 978 to 983, sections 336 to 339, inclusive* It was apparently the for­mer practice in Nevada to have the value of property taken in eminent domain determined by commissioners appointed by a court* See Statutes 1907* chapter 128, page 279*