East St. Louis, Columbia & Waterloo Railway v. Illinois State Trust Co.

248 Ill. 559
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 25, 1911
StatusPublished

This text of 248 Ill. 559 (East St. Louis, Columbia & Waterloo Railway v. Illinois State Trust Co.) 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
East St. Louis, Columbia & Waterloo Railway v. Illinois State Trust Co., 248 Ill. 559 (Ill. 1911).

Opinion

Per Curiam :

The East St. Louis, Columbia and Waterloo Railway, the appellee, filed its petition in the county court of St. Clair county against a number of defendants, including the Illinois State Trust Company, appellant, for the condemnation of certain land for railroad purposes. The proceedings resulted in an assessment of damages in favor of the appellant and a judgment of co ndemnation of its property, from which it has appealed.

Before the jury was empaneled the appellant interposed a challenge to the array, which was overruled. This action of the court is assigned for error, but it is not open to review here because the bill of exceptions shows nothing in regard to the manner in which the jury was chosen or summoned. Attached to the motion of the appellant challenging the array is an affidavit of the sheriff as to the issuing of the venire and the summoning of the jury, but neither the motion nor the affidavit is any part of the record before us because not made so by the including of them in a bill of exceptions.

The petition averred that the appellant, as trustee, was the owner in fee simple of certain real estate desired to be appropriated. Before the trial Horace J. Eggman, who was not a party to the suit, entered his appearance and -made á motion for a continuance of the cause until the bene- / ficial owners! of the land involved could be made parties, alleging that the appellant held the legal title merely as trustee for himself and other cestuis que trustent, (naming them,) who were the real owners of the land. Error is assigned on the overruling of this motion, but no exception was taken and the bill of exceptions shows nothing whatever in regard to it, therefore we cannot consider it. The statute requires the petition to set forth the names of all persons interested in the property sought to be taken or damag'ed, as owners or otherwise, as appearing of record, if known, or if not known, stating that fact. The petition alleged that the appellant, as trustee, was the owner. A trustee implies a cestui que trust who has an interest in the property, and who, whether known or unknown, may be made a party. Ordinarily all parties interested in the subject matter are to be made parties to the suit. Whether or not this case comes within any exception to the rule we can not In the state of the record decide.

After the appellee had introduced evidence for the purpose of showing its authority to exercise the right of eminent domain the appellant moved to dismiss the petition for the reason that such proof was not sufficient. It is urg'ed that this motion should have been sustained because the evidence failed to show that the compensation could not be agreed upon between the parties, because the railroad was not lawfully located over the land sought to be taken, and because appellee had not filed for record a copy of its by-laws or a plat of its railroad, as required by -section 6 of chapter 114 and section 9 of chapter 109 of the Revised Statutes of 1874. The evidence sufficiently shows an inability to agree upon the compensation, and the requirements as to filing a copy of the by-laws and a plat of the railroad are not conditions precedent to the exercise of the right of eminent domain. The location of a line of railroad is done by act of the company. An engineer cannot locate the line, and a survey of a line made by an ^engineer does not become the location of the road unless^ adopted by the company. (Black v. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Co. 243 Ill. 534; 2 Elliott on Railroads, sec. 927; 23 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law,—2d ed.—684, 685; 33 Cyc. 131.) It has been held' that even after the company has located the railroad by adopting a line surveyed, it may, before construction and before accepting land condemned, by paying the damages assessed, change the location. (Gear v. Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad Co. 20 Iowa, 523; 89 Am. Dec. 550; Mahaska County Railroad Co. v. Des-Moines Valley Railroad Co. 28 id. 437.) In Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Co. v. Nesbit, 10 How. 395, the Supreme Court of "the United States said: “It can hardly be questioned that, without acceptance by the acts and in the mode prescribed, the company were not bound; that if they had been dissatisfied with the estimate placed upon the land or could have procured a more eligible site for the location of their road they would have been at liberty, before such acceptance, wholly to. renounce the inquisition. The proprietors of the land could have no authority to coerce the company into its adoption.” In Pennsylvania it has been held the location can be changed before the damages have been assessed for right of way, but not afterwards. (Hagner v. Pennsylvania Valley Railroad Co. 154 Pa. 475; Beale v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co. 86 id. 511; 2 Elliott on Railroads, sec. 929.) The evidence in this record does not show the location of the road to have been changed after it was once made by the company. Appellee introduced as a witness its engineer who made the surveys. He testified he made surveys and plats in the summer and fall of 1908 and that the road was located; that within four months of that time the road was finally located on the route sought to be condemned. He testified that as first located the line ran alongside a public highway approximately one thousand feet from the land sought to be condemned; that as first located the road ran across one end of appellant’s land but as finally located it ran through the middle of said tract. Mr. Reinecke, the engineer, was recalled and further testified that no survey had been adopted previous to the location of the road at the place on appellant’s land where the right of way was sought to be condemned and that no other location had ever been approved and adopted. On cross-examination the witness stated he was not a member of the board of directors of appellee but knew where they located the road; that he submitted several surveys to them and the route sought to be condemned was the one adopted. < No objection was made that the testimony of the engineer as to the location of the road by the board of directors was not competent, and no question is now raised as to its competency. The argument is that the evidence shows the road was changed after having been once located. We do not think this position correct. It is true the engineer used the word “locate” in testifying about the lines surveyed by him, but it is apparent he was speaking of the line surveyed by him and not of any action of appellee in adopting a line, for he says while he submitted several lines none except the one sought to be condemned was adopted and approved.

The following instruction was given at the instance of the appellee and objected to by the appellant:

“In this case you are instructed that you cannot assume that the railroad in question will be operated by steam power nor can you assume that such road will be operated as a coal road. You are not warranted" in assuming, as against the defendant in this case, anything not shown or proven by the evidence, and if you believe, from the evidence, that the road in question is to be operated as an electric road, for the purpose of transporting passengers along its line, then and in such case you should so consider it in passing upon and determining the question involved.”

Many of the witnesses testified that the building of an electric railroad would be a benefit to the land of appellant not taken, while the building of a railroad operated by steam, or a coal road, would not be a benefit or would be a damage.

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Related

Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Co. v. Nesbit
51 U.S. 395 (Supreme Court, 1851)
Hagner v. Pa. Schuylkill Valley R. R.
25 A. 1082 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1893)
Peoria Gas Light & Coke Co. v. Peoria Terminal Railway Co.
146 Ill. 372 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1893)
Guyer v. Davenport, Rock Island & Northwestern Ry. Co.
63 N.E. 732 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1902)
Chicago & State Line Railway Co. v. Mines
77 N.E. 898 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1906)
South Park Commissioners v. Ayer
86 N.E. 704 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1908)
Black v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
243 Ill. 534 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1910)
Gear v. Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad
20 Iowa 523 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1866)

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Bluebook (online)
248 Ill. 559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/east-st-louis-columbia-waterloo-railway-v-illinois-state-trust-co-ill-1911.