Blackstone Manufacturing Co. v. Inhabitants of Blackstone

97 N.E. 58, 211 Mass. 14, 1912 Mass. LEXIS 712
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedJanuary 8, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 97 N.E. 58 (Blackstone Manufacturing Co. v. Inhabitants of Blackstone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blackstone Manufacturing Co. v. Inhabitants of Blackstone, 97 N.E. 58, 211 Mass. 14, 1912 Mass. LEXIS 712 (Mass. 1912).

Opinion

Hammond, J.

At the former hearing of the case before us it was held (200 Mass. 82) that the principle of taxation adopted in Boston Manuf. Co. v. Newton, 22 Pick. 22, was not applicable when, as here, a part only of the privilege was in this State.

Upon this point Knowlton, C. J., 200 Mass. 92, uses the following language: “In the present case . . . the land [in Massachu[16]*16setts] is held, with its appurtenances and all its natural qualities, by a single owner. It should be taxed to the petitioner, with all its elements of value. Among these are the right to use the flow of the water in connection with the fall of the stream to produce power, and to sell it for that purpose, either to be used in Massachusetts or to be carried into Rhode Island and used with an additional fall there. The u'se in Rhode Island is not to be taxed separately, as water power existing and applied there, but all the elements and qualities of the real estate which unite to produce the water power in Rhode Island and which combine to give it value there are to be considered. In determining the value of these features of the real estate in Massachusetts, the uses to which power could be put in Blackstone are to be considered, and the uses to which it is put in connection with the additional fall and the structures in Rhode Island are to be regarded. Lowell v. County Commissioners, 152 Mass. 372.

“If the value of all such elements, those in Rhode Island, as well as those in Massachusetts, which combine to produce the entire water power at the wheels is ascertained, the inquiry will then be, what part of this value is imputable to the real estate in Massachusetts. The answer to such an inquiry would be in part an estimate, but it would not be unlike estimates that are frequently made in determining the rights of parties.”

And the order was that “The findings of the Superior Court should be set aside, and the value of the property in question should be determined, either by a recommittal to the auditor or otherwise, in reference to any and all uses to which it is adapted, including the furnishing of power to be used on the petitioner’s wheels in Rhode Island;” and the rescript went accordingly.

In compliance with the rescript the case was recommitted by the Superior Court to the auditor. At the hearing under this order the auditor rightly ruled, against the objection of the petitioner, that he would consider all evidence given at the former hearings before him and any other evidence which the respondent might wish to present upon the value of the village land in question in the light of the former decision of this court. At the hearing it developed that both the parties and the auditor were in error with relation to the amount of head, stated in the former report to be twenty-nine feet, that could be developed from the privilege of the [17]*17petitioner at the old mill yard. And he found in accordance with the agreement of the parties that “the head of water capable of development both at the old mill yard in Blackstone, Massachusetts, and at the present location of the wheels in Smithfield, Rhode Island, is the same and amounts to 31.56 feet but this head of 31.56 feet was not used prior to the erection of the power house in Rhode Island in 1904.”

The auditor describes the whole mill property in detail, which description with the exception of this error is in all material respects like that given in the former report of this case (see 200 Mass. 85, 86), to which reference may be had.

The case is before us upon a report of the Superior Court, where the case was heard upon the pleadings, the auditor’s report and certain requests for rulings presented by the respective parties, these requests being the same as those which had been presented at the hearing before the auditor.

The main question is whether, either in the rule adopted by the auditor and followed by the court, or in the method of its application to the circumstances of this case, there was error in law. Upon this matter the auditor reports as follows:

“I find that the dam, pond above it, the river with land on both sides of it, and its fall of 13.88 feet all in Massachusetts furnish an opportunity for the economical development of a separate privilege and which separately would be of value.

“I find that the river, with the land on both sides of it in Rhode Island, together with its fall of 17.68 feet, furnish an opportunity for the economical development of another separate privilege, which likewise would separately be of value. Neither of these privileges were actually developed on May 1, 1905, nor had they ever been so developed as separate privileges.

“Evidence of the value of these separate privileges was offered by the petitioner upon which evidence I can find the value of these separate privileges in each State and' the value of the ‘increment of combination’ so called of them but I have made no finding thereon.

“I find and rule, however, that the entire property in both States belonging to the petitioner and used by it in developing water power, constitute together but one privilege, a unit which is of greater value than the sum of the values of the two separate privi[18]*18leges just described; that the power of the water can be applied either in the old mill yards ‘ABC’ situated in Blackstone, Massachusetts, or at the new power house situated in Smithfield, Rhode Island; that on May 1, 1905, the entire power of the water, capable of economical development at this privilege, was actually applied in Rhode Island, and that whether applied in Massachusetts ór in Rhode Island the agreed head of 31.56 feet is made up of the fall of 13.88 feet of the river in Massachusetts and of the 17.68 feet of the river in Rhode Island, and whether used in one State or the other, both of these falls are necessary to create the head of 31.56 feet, which is the head belonging to petitioners’ privilege and utilized by it. I further find that the general method of utilizing this entire privilege which was adopted by the petitioner, was the most advantageous and economical development that could be adopted whether the water was applied in Rhode Island or Massachusetts; and that on May 1, 1905, the most advantageous and economical method of then utilizing the privilege was the method then actually used, any other use necessitating an expenditure of a large amount of money.

“A. I find that the fair cash value of the petitioners’ entire privilege situated both in the town of Blackstone, Massachusetts, and Smithfield, Rhode Island, was on May 1,1905, $140,000. This sum represents the fair cash value, the sum for which it would exchange for in cash on May 1, 1905, in view of all the purposes for which it was naturally adapted. The privilege thus valued includes the land of the petitioners on both sides of the Blackstone River situated in the States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the dam, canals, and other structures (but not the power house), land under the same, the pond, and flowage rights and sufficient land to enable the owner to avail himself of the opportunity afforded by the situation, situated as they are with the flow of water, the fall in the river, and all those things which are necessary to enable the owner to make use of his opportunity and create a valuable water power, and with their capacity to ‘hold the water of the river and create power.’

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Bluebook (online)
97 N.E. 58, 211 Mass. 14, 1912 Mass. LEXIS 712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blackstone-manufacturing-co-v-inhabitants-of-blackstone-mass-1912.