Belle v. Glenville

17 Ohio C.C. Dec. 181, 5 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 461
CourtOhio Circuit Courts
DecidedNovember 28, 1904
StatusPublished

This text of 17 Ohio C.C. Dec. 181 (Belle v. Glenville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Circuit Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Belle v. Glenville, 17 Ohio C.C. Dec. 181, 5 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 461 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1904).

Opinion

MARVIN, J.

Suit is brought by the plaintiff to enjoin the city of Glenville and its officers and the Cleveland Electric Railway Company, which is a street [183]*183railroad corporation, from taking any steps toward the construction or operation of a street railroad in Doan street in said city.

Plaintiff is a taxpayer of said city and owns real estate therein, having a frontage on that part of said Doan street along which he alleges said railroad company is about to construct and operate a street railroad, and which it will construct and operate unless enjoined by the court.

Plaintiff, before bringing this suit, requested the solicitor of said city to bring the same, which he refused to do.

The railroad company claim the right to construct and operate such railroad as an extension of its St. Clair street railroad line, so-called, now operated by it in said city, by virtue of an ordinance passed by the council of said city on June 29, 1903. Said ordinance provides, among other things, as follows:

“An ordinance authorizing the Cleveland City Railway Company to extend the present system of double-track electric street railway now in operation upon St. Clair street, in the city of Glenville, from St. Clair street, southerly, to the southerly limits of the city of Glenville, and from St. Clair street, northerly, to the right of way of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company.
“Whereas, heretofore, on June 16, 1902, the council of the village of Glenville passed an ordinance, entitled ‘An ordinance authorizing the Cleveland City Railway Company to extend its present system of double track electric street railway on St. Clair street, from the present terminus of its tracks to the easterly limits of the village of Glenville, and on Doan street from its tracks on St. Clair street south to the southerly limits of the village of Glenville, and to extend the present franchise of said company;’ and,
“Whereas, said ordinance was duly accepted by the Cleveland City Railway Company, and it has begun the construction of its tracks and their appliances in pursuance of the terms of said ordinance; and,
“Whereas, litigation has been instituted by one of the property owners upon Doan street, attacking the validity of said ordinance, so far as it grants the right to an extension to said railway company on Doan street, which litigation is still pending, and by reason of which the construction of the line upon Doan street is being delayed; and,
“Whereas, the Cleveland City Railway Company has filed with the clerk of the city the written consents of more than one-half of the property owners upon that portion of Doan street, between the southerly line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company’s [184]*184right, of way and the southerly limits of the city of Glenville, to the construction and operation of such street railroad thereon; and,
“Whereas, the city council of the city of Glenville hereby finds and determines that more than one-half of the property owners upon' that portion of Doan street upon which an extension is authorized by this ordinance have given their written consent to the construction and operation of a street railroad thereon; now, therefore,
“Be it ordained by the council of the city of Glenville, three-fourths of all members of said council concurring:
‘ ‘ Section 1. That the Cleveland City Railway Company, upon the terms, conditions and agreements hereinafter contained and not otherwise, be, and the same is, authorized to extend, construct, maintain, and operate by electricity, its line of double track street railway in the city of Glenville, with the necessary poles, wires, switches and appurtenances, upon Doan street,* from St. Clair street southerly to the southerly limits of the city of Glenville, and from St. Clair street northerly to the right of way of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company; said extension in Doan street to be constructed and operated as one entire extension of the present line of said company in said city, and as a. cross-town line.
“Section 13. The right herein granted shall be and remain in force until June 18, 1927.”

The Cleveland Electric Railway Company is the successor of the Cleveland City Railway Company, named in said ordinance, and is entitled to whatever rights under said ordinance said Cleveland City Railway Company would have been entitled to but for the assignment of its rights to said Cleveland Electric Railway Company.

It is urged, however, by the plaintiff that no rights were acquired by any party to construct and operate such railroad under said ordinance.

The grounds upon which this claim is based are that the line of railroad operated on St. Clair street at and prior to the time of the passage of said ordinance was being so operated without any lawful authority, because the same was constructed as an extension into the city, then village of Glenville, of a line of railroad then owned and operated by a predecessor of the Cleveland City Railway Company.

The village of Glenville immediately adjoins the city of Cleveland on the east. The first line of road constructed as a part of the St. Clair street line was so done by authority of an ordinance passed by the city of Cleveland many years ago, and the line so built extended easterly along said street to Wilson avenue, which was then the east line of the •city of Cleveland.

[185]*185Under a franchise granted by the commissioners of Cuyahoga county a line of road was built by the company owning the St. Clair street line, which was a continuation of said original St. Clair street road from said east line of the city to a point within the city of Glenville, and was thereafter known as part of said line.

When this line east of Wilson avenue was built the road over which the line ran was outside of any municipal corporation. Later, the territory, including this part of said road, was annexed to and became a part of the city of Cleveland and the road was thereafter a part of the St. Clair street line in said, last named city. The claim is made on the part of the plaintiff that such annexation had the effect to deprive the company of the right to operate said line between Wilson avenue and the west line of the then village of Glenville. This contention is not sound. If the law is as claimed, every time the territorial limits of a municipality are extended so as to take in unincorporated territory, every street railroad operating under authority of the municipality to the extent that its lines are within the municipality, and under authority of the county commissioners, so far as its lines are without the municipality, would have its property rights taken away by simply an annexation of such unincorporated territory to the municipality. This is against reason, and would perpetrate such a wrong upon street railroad companies as cannot be tolerated by the law.

It has already been said that Glenville immediately adjoins the city of Cleveland on the east. This, of course, was not true at the time the line was built over the unincorporated territory east from Wilson avenue. So that we hold that after the annexation of the unincorporated territory already mentioned the railroad company lawfully owned and operated the St.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
17 Ohio C.C. Dec. 181, 5 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/belle-v-glenville-ohiocirct-1904.