Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chamberlain

84 Ill. 333
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 1876
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 84 Ill. 333 (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chamberlain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chamberlain, 84 Ill. 333 (Ill. 1876).

Opinions

Hr. Chief Justice Sheldon

delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was a bill for partition and other relief, filed in the circuit court of Cook county by John C. Chamberlain, one of the appellees, in January, 1870. Ther lands sought to be divided are blocks 24, 25, 26, and parts of blocks 23 and 29, in the southwest quarter of the north-west quarter of section 19, in township 39 north, range 14 east, in Cook county. The bill alleges, that the whole estate was owned in the following proportions: John C. Chamberlain an undivided one-eighth; Alphonse Ilurtel and William T. Ayers, as trustees under the will of Charles P. Gage, an undivided one-third; C. B. Chamberlain an undivided one-eighth; the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Bail-road Company an undivided one-fourth; Hoses Waring an undivided one-twelfth; and Caroline Goodman an undivided one-twelfth; that the railroad company, one of the defendants, claimed title to the whole property, by means of certain condemnation proceedings; but the bill alleged that these proceedings were void, and insufficient to divest the title of the complainant or of the other parties in interest. Afterwards, a cross-bill was filed by the other defendants than the railroad company, containing the same allegations, in substance, and praying the same relief as in the original bill.

The railroad company answered, relying upon the condemnation proceedings as vesting paramount title, and setting up payment of the condemnation money to different claimants.

On final hearing, the court below found against the validity of the condemnation proceedings, granted a perpetual injunction against any claim of title thereunder, and awarded partition on the basis of. the interests as set forth in the original bill. The railroad company appealed to this court.

The main question is in regard to the condemnation proceedings. Y ario us objections are taken to their sufficiency.

The proceedings were had under the general right of way law of June 22, 1852. It is urged that that law has no application to this company, because the termini of its road had not, at the time of the passage of the act, been fixed by the legislature, according to section 19 of the act. That section (Laws of 1852, p. 152,) is as follows: “All corporations heretofore created by special charter of incorporation, or under the general law, where the termini have been fixed by the legislature, and none others, may avail themselves of this act.” The company was incorporated under and by virtue of an act of the legislature, entitled “An act granting a charter to the ‘Aurora Branch Bailroad Company,’ approved February 12, 1849,” and other acts of the legislature supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof.

The language of that act thus designates the line: “ From Aurora to some eligible and convenient point in the county of DuPage, there to connect with the Galena and Chicago Union railroad.” Here the legislature had acted upon the subject of fixing the termini, and fixed one definitely and the other with as much definiteness as it was thought expedient that it should be fixed by the legislature. ¡Numerous are the instances upon the statute book of the creation of railroad corporations having one of the termini of the road fixed by the legislature with the same indefiniteness as in this case, showing such to be a common mode of fixing the termini of railroads by the legislature.

By one of the amendatory acts above referred to, approved February 28, 1854, the company was authorized to construct a branch railroad from its main line, from Aurora, in the county of ¡Kane, to and in the city of Chicago, by the way of ¡Naperville, on the line of which last route we understand the land to be situate. We are of opinion that, by virtue of either of these acts of February 12, 1849, or of February 28, 1854, the company, conformably with the 19th section, were entitled to proceed under the act of June 22, 1852.

In the case of The Peoria and Rock Island Railway Company v. Warner, 61 Ill. 52, the railroad corporation had been created since the passage of the act of 1852, and it was contended that it was not, under the 19th section, entitled to the benefit of that act, because the corporation was not theretofore created; but it was held, that the plain reading of the section was, that all corporations with the termini fixed by the legislature, should have the benefit of the act, and that the section had no application to that company, because the termini of its road were fixed by its charter. Beference, likewise, to the charter of that company, (2 Private Laws, 1867, p. 659,) will show that an extension of the road authorized to be constructed was from Peoria to some point in Tazewell county, to intersect another railroad—the latter terminus being alike indefinite with that in this case, as fixed by the original act of February 12, 1849.

The statute provides for the filing of a petition where the right or title can not be obtained by purchase, and it is objected that the petition was insufficient to vest any jurisdiction in the court, because it did not allege that the title could not be obtained by purchase—that that was a condition precedent, and its averment a jurisdictional fact. The allegation in the petition in this respect is, that the company “ has not been able to acquire the title to said several tracts, etc., from the persons' interested therein, by voluntary grant or otherwise.” It is certainly inconsistent with this allegation, that the title could have been acquired by purchase. In substance and effect, although not in precise terms, the petition does aver that the title to the land could not be obtained by purchase, and we regard it as substantially sufficient in that respect.

The notice of the intended application, and of the time and place of making the same, it is said, was a prerequisite. Bo objection whatever is taken to the form and manner of the notice, which is made part of the record. The only point made in this respect is, that the notice was not acted upon. The notice given was, that application would be made by the company to the judge of the circuit court, at his chambers, at 10 o’clock A. M., on the 26th of February, 1864. The objection is, that the record does not show an application on that day, and that the failure to make it upon that day operated as a discontinuance.

The petition was filed in the clerk’s office of the circuit court on January 28,1864. The 26th day of February, 1864. was a day of the February term of the circuit court. The record of the circuit court shows, that on that day the petitioner filed in the court the notice, with proof of its publication; that on that same day, Alfred B. Darling, one of the defendants in the petition, filed in the court his motion, in writing, to dismiss the pi-oceeding; that on the 29th of February, 1864,. he filed his demurrer; that on the 2d day of March, 1864, being of the February term, the motion of Darling to dismiss was overruled, and he filed his answer to the petition; and on the 5th day of March, 1864, being of the February term, the court made the appointment of commissioners under the petition.

There was introduced evidence, that on the 26th of February, 1864, the attorney of the railroad company appeared in open court on behalf of the company, and presented the petition, which had previously been filed on January 28, 1864, to the court for its action.

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Bluebook (online)
84 Ill. 333, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-burlington-quincy-railroad-v-chamberlain-ill-1876.