East St. Louis Ry. Co. v. Louisville & N. R.

149 F. 159, 79 C.C.A. 107, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4439
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 10, 1906
DocketNo. 1,317
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 149 F. 159 (East St. Louis Ry. Co. v. Louisville & N. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
East St. Louis Ry. Co. v. Louisville & N. R., 149 F. 159, 79 C.C.A. 107, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4439 (7th Cir. 1906).

Opinion

GROSSCUP, Circuit Judge.

The bill set forth, and the decree found, facts tending to show that a crossing at grade, at the point named, owing to the curvature and grade' of appellee’s tracks, would increase the; inconvenience of appellee in the operation of its road, and would add to the dangers to life at such crossing. But these facts, standing alone, do not constitute a ground for the injunction. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Ry. Co. v. General Electric Co. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit) 112 Fed. 689, 50 C. C. A. 424.

The bill also avers, -and the decree finds, that a certain other electric railroad, organized under the street railway act of the State of Illinois, running between the city of East St. Eouis and Alton, had an agreement with appellant, by which appellant was under contract to take its cars at the city limits — operating them, from that point, over the tracks of appellant on Seventh Street, to their destination in East St. Eouis, for a certain annual rental; and that certain other electric roads, organized under the railroad act of the state of Illinois, had been theretofore permitted by appellant to run their cars over appellant’s tracks into the City of East St. Eouis; from which it is argued that the crossing in dispute will become, in fact, a crossing between companies doing a general railroad business, and is therefore within the jurisdiction of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission. But if, independently of these facts, the crossing in dispute is not within the jurisdiction of the Commission, we need not pursue the inquiry as to what'would be the effect in case such crossing is used by these other roads; for the charter of appellant does not cover such case, and the [161]*161injunction appealed from does not limit itself to any threatened abuse of appellant’s charter in that respect. Should such úse be attempted) áppellee would have its appropriate remedy to prevent injury.

The single inquiry presented to us, therefore, is this: The city council having granted to a street railway company, doing only a street-railway business, the right to cross at grade the tracks of a railroad theretofore laid across such street, the crossing to be at a point within the street, has the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of Illinois jurisdiction either to prevent such crossing or prescribe the terms upon which such crossing shall be made?

Section 62, chapter 24, of the City and Village Act of Illinois (passed originally in 1872; Hurd’s Rev. St. 1905), provides that the city council shall have power to establish, alter, grade, and otherwise improve streets and alleys; to regulate the use of the same; to permit, regulate, or prohibit the locating and construction of any horse railroad, such permission not to be for longer than twenty years; to provide for and change the location, grade, and crossing of any railroad; and to compel railroads to raise or lower their tracks, to conform to any grade which may be established by the city.

In Robey v. City of Chicago, 215 Ill. 608, 74 N. E. 770 (decided June 23rd, 1905), it was said:

“The City Council, under the General Incorporation Act, -which is in force in the City of Chicago, has full power to pass an ordinance granting to a street railway company the right to operate its street railroad in the streets of the city, subject to such limitations as have been imposed upon such municipalities by the Legislature, and in so doing may prescribe the terms and conditions upon which said company may occupy the streets of the city with its tracks, ears, etc. The city, in passing such ordinance, performs a legislative function, and in so doing acts as a governmental agency of the state, and the ordinance, when passed, had the force and effect of a law of the state. In People v. Suburban Railroad Company, 178 Ill. 594, on page 605, 53 N. E. 349, on page 352, 49 L. R. A. 650, it is said: ‘The state does not, however, exercise directly that full paramount power which it possesses over streets, alleys,’ etc., but in the distribution of governmental powers the General Assembly adopted the policy of selecting the cities and villages of the state as governmental agencies and delegating to such municipalities the power to regulate and control the use of the streets, alleys, etc., within their respective limits. Such power thus delegated is exorcised by the municipal authorities acting in behalf of the state for the benefit of the public.”

In Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. the General Electric Railway Company, supra, it was said:

“The doctrine is firmly established in the state of Illinois, in accordance with the general weight of authority, that by the construction and nse of street railway tracks no additional burden is imposed upon the easement, as such use ‘falls within the purposes for which streets are- dedicated or acquired,’ (2 Dillon Municipal Corporations [4th Ed.'j § 722,) but that the use for steam railway purposes is beyond the general public easement and imposes an additional servitude. C., B. & Q. R. R. Co. v. Street Railroad Co., 156 Ill. 255, 267, 273, 40 N. E. 1008, 29 L. R. A. 485, and cases cited) Bond v. Pa. Ry. Co., 171 Ill. 508, 513, 49 N. E. 545; General Electric Railway Co. v. Chicago & W. I. R. R. Co., 184 Ill. 588, 56 N. E. 963. It is equally well settled by the uniform lino of decisions in the same state, that the use of a street by a steam railway is legitimate when duly authorized but that no exclusive use is conferred by the permit and it can ‘only he enjoyed in common with the use of the avenue by the public as an ordinary highway, and without materially impairing its usefulness, as such.’ Pittsburg, Ft. [162]*162Wayne v. Chicago R, R. Co. v. Reich, 101 Ill. 157, 173; Ligare v. City of Chicago, 139 Ill. 46, 62, 28 N. E. 934, 32 Am. St. Rep. 179; C. B. & Q. R. R. Co. v. Street R. R. Co., 150 Ill. 255, 265, 267, 273, 40 N. E. 1008, 29 L. R. A. 485; Pennsylvania Co. v. City of Chicago, 181 Ill. 289, 296, 54 N. E. 825, 53 L. R. A. 223; General Electric Railroad Co. v. Chicago & W. I. R. R. Co., 184 Ill. 588, 56 N. E. 963. With the rights of the -appellant in this street crossing thus defined they are in subordination to the use for street purposes, which includes use for a street railway; the right is held in common, is ‘joint and mutual, not exclusive,’ (Reich Case, 101 Ill. 157, 175) and the pr-imary object of the street is for ordinary passage and travel of which the public and individuals, cannot rightfully be deprived. Ligare Case, 139 Ill. 46, 52, 28 N. E. 934, 32 Am. St. Rep. 179; General Electric Ry. Case, 184 Ill. 588, 595, 50 N. E. 963.”

Other decisions in line with these holdings are: C., B. & Q. R. R. Co. v. Street R. R. Co., 156 Ill. 256, 40 N. E. 1008, 29 L. R. A. 485; Ry. Co. v. Street Railroad Co., 156 Ill. 385, 386, 40 N. E. 1014; Doane v. Lake Street El. R. R. Co., 165 Ill. 517, 46 N. E. 520, 36 L. R. A. 97, 56 Am. St. Rep. 265; Harvey v. Aurora & G. Ry. Co., 174 Ill. 295, 51 N. E. 163; Harvey v. Aurora & G. Ry. Co., 186 Ill. 283, 57 N. E. 857; Gen’l Elec. Ry. Co. v. C. & W. I. R. R. Co., 184 Ill. 588, 56 N. E. 963; Hartshorn v. I. V. Tr. Co., 210 Ill. 609, 71 N. E. 612; Wilder v. Aurora, etc., Tr. Co., 216 Ill. 493, 75 N. E.

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149 F. 159, 79 C.C.A. 107, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4439, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/east-st-louis-ry-co-v-louisville-n-r-ca7-1906.