Baring v. Erdman

2 F. Cas. 784, 1834 U.S. App. LEXIS 207
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedAugust 4, 1834
StatusPublished

This text of 2 F. Cas. 784 (Baring v. Erdman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baring v. Erdman, 2 F. Cas. 784, 1834 U.S. App. LEXIS 207 (uscirct 1834).

Opinion

BALDWIN, Circuit Justice.

The complainants, who are the subjects of the king' of Great Britain, having filed their bill on the equity side of this court, setting forth that they are owners of a tract of land, on the western bank of the Schuylkill, of which they have long been in the quiet and peaceable possession, through which a stream of water has run from time immemorial until its diversion by the respondents, by means of a dam, erected across it, on the land of the complainants, and a trench made to conduct it to the Pennsylvania Railroad, for the supply of the engines thereon; that the injury thereby caused is permanent and irreparable, and committed under color of, but without any authority conferred by law on the canal commissioners or any agent or offieer appointed by them; they therefore pray for an injunction to restrain the re[786]*786spondents from tlie commission of any further trespass on the premises, from the further use and diversion of the water of said stream, and the further prosecution of any works, which may in any manner interfere with the full and quiet possession of said land and the water flowing through in its accustomed bed, and general relief. That the title and possession of the premises is and has been for many years in the complainants is admitted; it is also admitted, that the respondents, under the authority and by the direction of the canal commissioners and their engineers, have erected the dam, dug the trench, and conducted the water from and across the premises to the railroad, for the use of the engines employed thereon, for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, up the inclined plane on the western bank of the Schuylkill. From the affidavits on both sides it appears that the work was commenced without notice to the agent or tenant of the complainants, but that as soon as the agent received information, he notified the defendants, not to proceed any further; they, however, persisted, notwithstanding all remonstrances and open opposition, and availing themselves of superior numbers, kept possession of the premises, till they had finished the dam and trench, so as to divert the water to its destination. On these admitted or uncontested facts, various interesting questions have arisen, which have been very fully and ably-argued, and deserve our most serious consideration.

If the respondents had invaded the peaceable possession of the complainants, under any pretension of an adversary right, or had diverted the water course for their own individual benefit, by a sheer act of trespass, the nature of the injury would be a proper subject for an injunction. The owner of an estate has a right to use it without any control or interference by others. Whether he makes it the source of profit, pleasure or amusement, his right of property [is] equally-protected. No man has a right to judge of the purposes to which the proprietor devotes his time, his capital or his estate, or the relative value and importance of its varied uses. The parks, the pleasure grounds, the shade, ■ornamental or forest trees, the springs, the water courses or fish ponds, are as much in his full dominion as his mansion house, his grain fields, his meadows or orchards. An immediate injury done to either will be redressed at law or in equity, on the same principles; in a court of law, the remedy depends upon the right of the complainants, and can be afforded only after the injury is committed, but a court of equity interferes to protect a possession held under a claim and color of right, and will prevent an impending or threatened injury, until the party out of possession shall establish his right at law. or otherwise be put into possession by some process which the law recognizes. So far then as the case depends upon the nature of the injury, we should feel it our duty to grant the injunction, if the respondents could be considered as mere trespassers on the possession of the complainants, by any- assumed right in themselves, nor would the case be changed if the acts done by- them or threatened to be done by them, under the authority of the board of canal commissioners, should appear to be clearly- unwarranted by any act of assembly. Though they act as the mere agents of the board or the state, we should be bound to view them as mere trespassers, whom we should enjoin from any future acts, however deeply it might affect the interests of the state. The acts of its agents or officers cannot be permitted to transcend the authority-conferred on them by law. They- must be clothed with jurisdiction over the subject matter, and with power to do the act complained of, or their proceedings will be controlled by the same rules which restrain private persons from committing irreparable injury to the property of others, [Osborn v. Bank of U. S.,] 9 Wheat. [22 U. S.] 842. By the principles of the common law, confirmed by Magna Charta, and numerous statutes in England, no freeman could be deprived of his freehold but by the judgment of his peers on the law of the land, (1 Bl. Comm. 138,) or as it is expressed by Lord Coke, “verdict of his equals, or legal process, or due process of law,” (2 Co. Inst. 45, 46,) due process of the common law, (Id. 50,) or the law of the land. The statutes provide that no man's land shall be seized into the king’s hands against the form of the great charter and the law of the land, and if any- thing be done against the same, it shall be holden for none. 1 Puff. Law Nat. 209, 263. All the writers on national law lay down the position that, private property may be taken for public use, but that this right is subject to the concomitant obligation on the government, to make compensation to the owner. Vatt. Law Nat. 112; Ruth. Inst. 43; Burlam. Nat. 150; Puff. Law Nat. 829, 830; Gro. 333, 334. The ninth section of the ninth article of the constitution of Pennsylvania adopts the provision and language of Magna Charta. The fifth amendment to the constitution of the United States adopts the expression “due process of law;” it also declares that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. The constitution of Pennsylvania is still more explicit: “Nor shall any man’s property be taken or applied to public use without the consent of his representatives, and without just compensation being made.” It is therefore clear that according to all the fundamental laws of society, the appropriation of private property for public use must be authorized by- the law of the land, the judgment of peers, or due process of law-, and by-compensation to the owner. When such an appropriation is deemed necessary for the [787]*787general benefit, the public is considered as an individual treating with another for an exchange; and the legislature may compel the owner to part with his property for a fair price. 1 Bl. Comm. 139, 140. This is ascertained either by the verdict of a jury on a writ of ad quod damnum, or by some other process prescribed by the law, making or authorizing the appropriation. Our inquiry must therefore be directed to the question, whether the state has by law authorized the disseisin of the complainants of any part of their freehold, or the taking or application of their property for public use. It would be a waste of time to examine whether the officers of the state can do it without law or legal process, in direct violation of the constitution and every principle of the common and public law held sacred in all governments, and which cannot be impaired in this without its destruction.

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Bluebook (online)
2 F. Cas. 784, 1834 U.S. App. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baring-v-erdman-uscirct-1834.