Arkansas & O. R. v. St. Louis & S. F. R.

103 F. 747, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4689
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Arkansas
DecidedAugust 6, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 103 F. 747 (Arkansas & O. R. v. St. Louis & S. F. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arkansas & O. R. v. St. Louis & S. F. R., 103 F. 747, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4689 (circtwdar 1900).

Opinion

ROGERS, District Judge.

This is a civil proceeding under the statutes of Arkansas, and demands relief under two distinct statutes:

First. The condemnation of the right of way across the 18-acre tract of land described in the complaint; and the proceeding for that purpose was instituted under the following sections of Sandels & Hill’s Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas:

“See. 2770. Any railroad, telegraph or telephone company, organized under the laws of this state, after having surveyed and located its lines of railroad, telegraph or telephone, shall in all cases where such companies fail to obtain by agreement with the owner of the property through which said lines of railroad, telegraph or telephone may be located, the right of way over the same, apply to the circuit court of the county in which said property is situated, by petition, to have the damages for such right of way assessed, giving the owner of such property at least ten days’ notice in writing of the time and place where such petition will be heard.”
“Sec. 2772. If the owner or owners of such property be non-residents of the state, infants or persons of unsound mind, such notice shall be given by publication in any newspaper in said county which is authorized by law to publish legal notices, which notice shall be published for the same length of time as may be required in other civil cases. If there be no such newspaper published in the county, then said publication shall be made in some such newspaper designated by the circuit clerk, and one written or printed notice thereof posted on the door of the court house of such county.”
“See. 2774. Such petition shall, nearly as may be, describe the lands over which said road is located, and for which damages are asked to be assessed, whether improved or unimproved, and be sworn to.”
“See. 2776. The amount of damages to be paid the owner of such lands for the right of way for the use of such company shall be determined and assessed irrespective of any benefit such owner may receive from any improvement proposed by such company.
“Sec. 2777. In all eases where damages for the right of way for the use of any railroad company have been assessed in the manner hereinbefore provided, it shall be the duty of such railroad company to deposit with the court or pay to the owners the amount so assessed, and pay such costs as may, in [755]*755the discretion of the court, be adjudged against it, within thirty days after such assessment; whereupon it, shall and may he lawful for such railroad company to enter upon, use and have the right of way over such lands forever.”
“Sec. 2780. In all cases where such company shall not pay or deposit the amount of damages assessed as aforesaid within thirty days after such assessment, they sliali forfeit all rights in the premises.
“Sec. 2781. The words ‘right of way’ as used in this act, shall he construed to mean and include all grounds necessary for side-tracks, turn-outs, depots, work-shops, water stations and other necessary buildings.”

Second. The condemnation of an easement, merely, across the right of way and the tracks of the defendant company; and for that purpose the proceeding was instituted under the following sections of said digest:

“Sec. 6345. Every railroad corporalion created and organized under the laws of this state, or created and organized under the laws of any other state or the United States, and operating a railroad in this state, shall ha,ve the power to cross, intersect, join or unite its railroad with any other railroad now constructed or that may hereafter be constructed, at any point on its route and upon the grounds and right of way of such other railroad company, with the necessary turnouts, sidings, and switches and other conveniences in furtherance of the object of its construction. And every railroad company whose railroad is or shall be crossed, joined, or intersected by any new railroad shall unite with the owners and corporation of such new railroad in forming such crossing, intersection and connection, and shall grant to such railroads so crossing, intersecting or uniting- all the necessary facilities foi that purpose as aforesaid.
“Sec. 6346. If the two corporations can not agree upon the amount of compensation to be made for the purposes set forth in the foregoing section, or the points or manner of such crossing, junction or intersections, the same shall be ascertained and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction in the same manner as provided for the ascertainment of damages for right of way for railroads.
“Sec. 6347. Every railroad company operating a railroad in this state shall canse all freight and passenger trains running on their roads to stop at all points on their roads where another railroad crosses, joins, unites or intersects and take and receive on their trains all passengers, freights and mail which such railroad so crossing, joining- or intersecting has for shipment at such point, and shall carry the same and shall also discharge all passengers, freights and mail consigned to said point of crossing, intersection or junction of such railroad, and which is to be transported, carried and conveyed on said railroad, and no railroad company shall in any wise discriminate against passengers or freight transported or conveyed by any intersecting railroad company.
"Sec. 0348. Any railroad company violating any of the provisions of the preceding sections shall forfeit and pay to the company injured thereby double the amount of damages which such injured company may have sustained, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction.”

There is no reported case o£ the supreme court of this state, uor iu the United States courts, so far as has been discovered, settling the practice or the nature and character of the judgment to be rendered under the last-named sections of tlie statute providing for the crossing or intersecting of one railroad by another, and the statute itself is so crude and meager in its provisions as to what the court is to do that I have found no little difficulty in framing any judgment adequate to the situation without trenching on legislative ground. It is to be hoped that this case may be taken to a higher court, where some authoritative decision can be rendered for future guidance of the inferior courts, and that the attention of the leg[756]*756islature of the state may be drawn to the crude, incongruous mass of patchwork legislation in regard to railroads in. this state which now' almost defeats intelligent judicial interpretation and enforcement in many particulars.

It was urged with much persistence that the plaintiff corporation, at the commencement of this suit, had not been organized so as to authorize it to exercise the right of eminent domain. It was not, however, insisted that it had not complied strictly with section 6148 of Sandels & Hill’s Digest. It was insisted that it had not complied with section 6149 of Sandels & Hill’s Digest, and that a compliance with that section of the statute was a condition precedent to its right to exercise the power of eminent domain. To this contention I cannot agree. The question has been settled by the supreme court of Arkansas in the case of Brown v. Railway Co. (Ark.) 56 S. W. 862.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Daily v. Marshall
133 P. 681 (Montana Supreme Court, 1913)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 F. 747, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arkansas-o-r-v-st-louis-s-f-r-circtwdar-1900.