Questão jurídica principal
Whether the landowners could demand restoration of the affected land instead of monetary compensation in this expropriation-related dispute.
Decisão extraída
No. By invoking the federal expropriation authorities and insisting on compensation under that regime, the appellants were subject to the statute’s compensation rules, which allow only full payment in money, not restoration.
Fundamentação extraída
The case, though not a formal expropriation, was treated under the Federal Expropriation Act because the claimants themselves requested determination by the competent expropriation bodies. Under that law, compensation is monetary; restoration is excluded.