Clifton Springs Distilling Co. v. State

12 Ohio App. 226, 31 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 321, 31 Ohio C.A. 321, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 188
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 7, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 12 Ohio App. 226 (Clifton Springs Distilling Co. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clifton Springs Distilling Co. v. State, 12 Ohio App. 226, 31 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 321, 31 Ohio C.A. 321, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 188 (Ohio Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

Hamilton, J.

The statement of the case, the claims under the petition, the position assumed by the Distilling Company in its answer, and the claims of the City of Cincinnati in its petition, are correctly and fully set forth in the agreed statement of facts, which is incorporated in the bill of exceptions as follows:

“agreed statement of facts.

“In the petition plaintiff claimed from the defendant $1,361.33 for the use of part of the canal system of the State of Ohio by the defendant for carrying goods and merchandise in Canal Boats from October 1, 1912, to August 31, 1917, at the rate of 15 cents per mile, so traveled by the Canal boats as used by the defendant.

“The defendant filed an answer admitting the amount claimed and stating that without collusion with it, the City of Cincinnati claimed said sum and had notified said defendant not to pay the same. The City’s claim arose under a lease of said Canal from the State of Ohio under certain Acts of the Legislature. The defendant, The Clifton Springs Distilling Company, was permitted to pay the above sum of money into Court under its claim of interpleader. Whereupon the City of Cincinnati was made a party defendant and filed its answer. The State of Ohio then filed a reply. The question for decision is which of these two is entitled to the above fund now in the hands of the Clerk of this Court. The agreed facts are as follows:

[228]*228“The City of Cincinnati is a municipal corporation under the laws of Ohio. The statement of the petition as to the sum of $1,361.33 being due from the original defendant as above set out, is also admitted. The Clifton Springs Distilling Company’s place of business is situated on the Canal on Ludlow Avenue and the B. & O. S. W, Railway Co. The Governor of the State of Ohio executed and delivered to the City of Cincinnati on August 29, 1912, and on January 6, 1917, the leases attached to the answer of the defendant, The City of Cincinnati. The City of Cincinnati paid all installments of rental under said leases up to April 1, 1918, the last semi-annual payment of the City being made in advance on October 11, 1918.

“The City of Cincinnati never entered upon, improved or occupied as a public street or boulevard, or for sewerage, conduit or for any other purpose, or purposes, all or any part of the Miami and Erie Canal described in the leases to the defendant, or in any Acts of the General Assembly under which said leases were made. No plans and specifications were ever drawn or approved by the State Engineer for a convenient outlet for the discharge of the water of the said Miami and Erie Canal at a point 300 feet north of Mitchell Avenue, or at any other point so as not to obstruct the flow of water through the remaining part of the Canal, or so as not to destroy or injure the present supply of water for mechanical or commercial purposes. No bond in any amount has been prescribed by the State Board of Public Works or approved by the Attorney General of Ohio for the faithful performance of said work or given by the City of Cincia[229]*229nati for such performance. The City of Cincinnati has never constructed or caused to be constructed suitable and sufficient works for a convenient outlet for the discharge of the water of said Miami and Erie Canal at any point so as not to obstruct the flow of water through the remaining part of said Canal and so as not to destroy or injure the supply of water as it existed at the date of the passage of the several legislative Acts of 1911, for mechanical or commercial purposes. Said City has never adopted or constructed, either under said Acts or at all, appropriate works, or any works, for the purpose of supplying water to the lessee users of said water of the Miami and Erie Canal along that portion of said canal to be abandoned in order to enable and for the purpose of enabling the State of Ohio fully, or in any other way to carry out and discharge the obligations resting upon it by virtue of certain contracts subsisting at the passage of the Act of 1911, to and in force between the State of Ohio and said lessee water users during, the remainder of the terms of said contracts in the same quantity and under the same conditions and at the same rate of rental provided for in said contracts.

“The State of Ohio for many years prior to 'May 15, 1911, and continuously ever since, has been in possession of all that portion of the Miami Canal described in all the foregoing Acts, and of the property described in the .leases attached to the answer of the defendant, The City of Cincinnati, using said Canal as a navigable stream, flowing the waters through said portion of the Canal for navigation and public purposes and that such por[230]*230don of said canal, and particularly that portion thereof for navigation of which tolls were charged to the original defendant herein and for which this action was brought, always have been and were during the period for which said tolls were charged used for navigation and for public purposes by the State of Ohio and the people of the State during all the time aforesaid. In this behalf and regard said plaintiff, The State of Ohio, during all the time aforesaid, maintained all of said property, including the banks and bed of the canal, as well as all other parts thereof, and exercised care and supervision over all said property during all the time aforesaid and which it still continues to do, through its State officers, servants, agents and employes, at all times at expense and outlay to the plaintiff, The State of Ohio, expending for the purposes aforesaid since July, 1917, the sum of not less than $3,464.25.”

It will be seen that the claim of the city of Cincinnati is based largely upon the construction of the lease executed and delivered to it by the governor of the state of Ohio on the 29th day of August, 1912, which lease dated from the first day of October, 1912, for the term of 99 years, renewable forever, and was executed under the authority of an act of the general assembly of Ohio, found in 102 Ohio Laws, 168-171, entitled “An Act to provide for leasing a part of the Miami and Erie canal to the city of Cincinnati as a public street or boulevard, and for sewerage and subway purposes.”

The plaintiff in error, city of Cincinnati, bases its strongest argument for its rights in the matter [231]*231upon the terms of the lease, urging that a fair interpretation of the lease gives it the right to the rentals for the use of that section of the canal leased to it. We are of opinion that the rights of the parties must be determined from the act itself, authorizing the lease, and that no rights accrue under the terms of the lease which are not duly authorized by the act.

In the case of Roseberry v. Hollister, 4 Ohio St., 297, the court say at page 308:

“The state can only act by its agents, duly authorized by law; and where such agents, being mere ministerial officers, transcend their authority, their acts are void, or at least voidable by the state.”

Again in the case of State, ex rel., v. The Cincinnati Central Ry. Co., 37 Ohio St., 157, the court say at page 178:

“It is for the legislature, and not its subordinate agents, * * * to authorize such additional public use and to confer such authority.”

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12 Ohio App. 226, 31 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 321, 31 Ohio C.A. 321, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clifton-springs-distilling-co-v-state-ohioctapp-1919.