Central Railroad v. Valentine

29 N.J.L. 561
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJune 15, 1862
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 29 N.J.L. 561 (Central Railroad v. Valentine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Railroad v. Valentine, 29 N.J.L. 561 (N.J. 1862).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

The Chief Justice.

In this case two important rights come into apparent collision — the right of the railroad company to repair and alter their bridge and embankments — a part of their railroad — and that of the defendant Valentine’s lessor, Swaney, to maintain his mill dam.

The former constitutes a necessary part of the latter. If the embankment of the company is taken away where it adjoins the dam, although within the limits of the land conveyed to them by Swaney, the continuity of the dam is broken, and the water runs out.

' After the embankment of the railroad company was built, and the bridge also, through which the waters of the pond passed, and while the embankment constituted a part of the dams, Swaney conveyed the land covered by the embankment and abutments of the bridge and the open intervening space to the company.

At the trial, the court held that the right to the soil carried with it the right to excavate at pleasure even that part of the embankment necessary to the retention of the water in the pond, although the deed from Swaney to the company contained a reservation to him and his heirs and assigns forever of the right and privilege to enter [563]*563upon the conveyed premises from time to time, to make, amend, and repair his mill dams, and to remove from the pond the manure that might there accumulate from time to time.

The Circuit Court decided that the conveyance destroyed Swaney’s right to‘abut his dam against the company’s embankment.

The Supreme Court, reversing the judgment of the circuit, held that, by the reservation, Swaney retained’ the absolute right to have his dam at all times, without interruption, abut the embankment; and that the company could not, even for the purpose of repairing the embankment and bridge, which was a part of their road at that point, when it became necessary so to do, temporarily remove a part of it, to enable them to get at the foundations of the bridge, which stood in the waters of the pond.

From the course of the argument here and the opinion in the Supreme Court, it is evident that in both the inferior courts the parties, as well as the court, treated the case'as if both rights could not co-exist, even in a modified form; that Swaney either had the right to a perpetual and uninterrupted connection between the embankment and his dam or no connection at all; and that the company could not, even in a ease of necessity, cut away a part of their embankment, and thus open the dam, and keep it open long enough to enable them to repair the bridge, or if they could, they might forever keep the dam open.

Both courts determined the ease upon too narrow grounds. It is manifest' that, by the transaction which ■was consummated by the deed, neither of the parties intended 1o part with any right necessary to enable them, respectively, to maintain the dam, embankment, and bridge.

The company very properly supposed that the conveyance of the land covered by the embankment and bridge would confer upon them the right to use it for all the necessary and convenient purposes for which it was brought, [564]*564including the right of conveniently repairing their embankment and bridge. Swaney, that he was to enjoy his mill and dams as he had been accustomed to do, subject to the inconvenince of having a rail embankment and bridge in his pond, with the right of necessary and convenient reparation.

To carry out this reasonable purpose, the deed was given for the embankment and roadway sixty-six feet in width, reserving to the grantor the right to enter, and make and repair the dams at all times.

The conveyance by Swaney, even if it had not contained the reservation, would not have destroyed his right to have his dam abut the embankment as it did when he made it.

At the moment of the conveyance by Swaney to the company an easement by operation of law was created, by which the embankment conveyed to the company became burthened vwith the right of Swaney and his assigns to have it as a part of his mill dam, as it was at the moment of conveyance.

The marks of the burthen at the time of sale were open to view. The company saw that the embankment they purchased supported the waters of the pond. They took it cum, onere. Swaney saw that the embankment and bridge were in his pond, and that if they needed repairs, it would be necessary, in order to enable them to be done conveniently, to draw the water from the pond, and to keep it drawn until the repairs could with due diligence be completed.

The principle upon which the case turns seems to be well stated by the court in Lampman v. Milks, 21 New York Rep., 7 Smith 507, “ That when the owner of two tenements sells one of them, or the owner of one entire estate sells a portion, the purchaser takes the tenement or portion sold with all the benefits and burthens which appear at the time of sale to belong to it, as between it and the property which the vendor retains.” Nicholas v. [565]*565Chamberlin, Cro. Jac. 121; Robbins v. Bairns, Hob. 131 ; United States v. Appleton, 1 Sumner 492; Hazard v. Robinson, 3 Mason 272; Pyer v. Carter, 1 Hurl. & Nol. 916 ; Gale and Whately on Easements 39.

As the deed did not prevent the easement of the grantor, Swaney, from arising, so, also, the reservation, being only in affirmance of it, does not affect it. It is no broader, no narrower, than the right which the law would have given without it, except that the law gives what the reservation only implies, the right to the existing dam. The right which the company claims, of drawing off the water when necessary for the convenient reparation of the bridge, seems to rest upon grounds equally satisfactory.

The law preserving the rights of the parties upon a severance of ownership of the entire tract, by creating an easement in favor of the part sold or retained, according to circumstances, seems to proceed upon the idea that, in the absence of an expressed intention to destroy the burthen, none will be implied from the mere fact of severance. It could not have been the intent of the parties to destroy the conveniencies, because that intent was not distinctly expressed. The convenience or necessary arrangement shall remain, because its remaining is not inconsistent with the operation of'the conveyance of the fee of the land, and effects the intention of the parties.

If the conveyance of Swaney to the company had been the grant of an easement only, instead of the fee of the land, the right of draining off the water, if necessary for the reparation of the bridge, would have followed as a secondary easement, necessary for the enjoyment of the principal one. Gale and Whately 324.

Whatever was necessary for the enjoyment of the thing granted passed with it. Liford’s case, 11 Rep. 54, a ; Shep. Touch. 89; Hobart 284; Vaughn's R. 109; 1 Wm. Saund. 323; No. 5, Co. Lit. 59, b ; Saunders’ case, 5 Rep. 12; Howton v. Frearson, 8 T. Rep. 56.

Swaney conveyed the two dissevered parts of the em[566]*566bankment with the bridge standing in the water of his pond.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 N.J.L. 561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-railroad-v-valentine-nj-1862.