Kansas & A. V. Ry. Co. v. Payne

49 F. 114, 1 C.C.A. 183, 1892 U.S. App. LEXIS 1174
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 25, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 49 F. 114 (Kansas & A. V. Ry. Co. v. Payne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kansas & A. V. Ry. Co. v. Payne, 49 F. 114, 1 C.C.A. 183, 1892 U.S. App. LEXIS 1174 (8th Cir. 1892).

Opinion

Thayer, District Judge.

This is an appeal from an order granting and continuing a preliminary injunction, as authorized by the seventh section of the act of March 3,1891, creating this court. The sole question for our consideration is whether the existing injunction was properly awarded, and that is to be determined on the case made by the bill and answer, and the affidavits and exhibits filed in the lower court on the hearing of the motion. The record before us shows that the appellant is a corporation created and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Arkansas, and that by an act of congress approved June 1,1886, (24 St. p. 73,) it was authorized to locate, construct, and operate a railway, telegraph, and telephone line through the Indian Territory, be[115]*115ginning on the eastern line of the territory, at or near the city of Ft. Smith, in the state of Arkansas, and running thence, in a north-westwardly direction, through the Territory to a designated point on its northern boundary line. To that end the railway company was empowered to take and use a right of way 100 feet in width through the Indian Territory, hut it was provided, in effect, that the land taken should not be leased or sold, and that it should only be used in such manner and for such purpose as should be necessary for the construction and convenient operation of a railroad, telegraph, and telephone line. The act contained provisions requiring compensation to be made to the Indian tribes and to individual occupants for all such lands as might be taken, and it also prescribed a mode of condemnation to be pursued in certain contingencies; but, without going into detail, it will suffice to say that before said railway could be constructed through any lands held by individual occupants, “according to the laws, customs, and usages of the Indian nations or tribes through which it might be constructed,” the act required that full compensation should be made to such occupants “for all property taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railway.” Under the authority so conferred, and prior to the institution of this suit, the appellant had located and constructed its railroad for a long distance through the Cherokee Nation down to a point on the north bank of the Arkansas river opposite the city of Ft. Smith. To reach the water at that point, it was compelled to condemn a right of way through a tract of land, fronting on the river, which was occupied and held by the appellees according to the laws, customs, and usages of the Cherokee Nation. Such condemnation proceeding was duly prosecuted in the mode prescribed by the act of June 1, 1886, and resulted in a final decree on January 14, 1888, granting to the railway company a right of way through the appellees’ lands to the water’s edge. The damages awarded in such proceeding appear to have been duly paid shortly after the final decree. By another act of congress, approved March 15, 1890, (26 St. p. 21,) the appellant was authorized to bridge the Arkansas river at or near Ft. Smith. The first section of that act is as follows:

“Be it enacted * * * that the Kansas & Arkansas Valley Railway, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of Arkansas, and being empowered by act of congress approved June first, eighteen hun dred and eighty-six, to construct its railway from a point on the eastern boundary line of the Indian Territory, at or near Ft. Smith, Arkansas, through said territory, in a north-west direction, to a point on the northern boundary line of said territory, with tile power to build a branch as therein provided, the construction and operation of which said line of railway involves the necessity of constructing a bridge across the Arkansas river, in the Indian Territory, from a point at or near Ft. Smith, be, and the said Kansas & Arkansas Valley Railway, its successors and assigns, are hereby, authorized and empowered to construct said bridge across said river, and to maintain and operate the same as a railway, passenger, and wagon bridge.”

After the approval of the act last referred to, the railway company proceeded to construct a bridge strictly in accordance with its provis[116]*116ions. It was so located that the northern end of the structure abutted on, and lay wholly within, the limits of the right of way previously condemned through the lands of these appellees. The bridge had been about completed, and the railway company was constructing an approach thereto at the northern end, suitable for the use of wagons and foot-passengers, as well as for railway trains, when the work was arrested by the order of injunction from which this appeal was taken. The bill filed by the appellees to obtain an injunction’alleged, among other things, that complainants occupied land fronting on the Arkansas river both above and below the northern terminus of the bridge; that a ferry privilege was “attached to said land;” that they had a license and the exclusive right from the Cherokee Nation to run a ferry across the river from that point to Ft. Smith, and had been engaged for years in running a ferry for the accommodation of wagons, pedestrians, stock, and general travel, and had a large sum of money invested in said ferry; that the railway company had begun to construct “on its right of way,” at the north end of the bridge, a wagon road and approaches for vehicles, foot-passengers, and general travel, and had also begun to construct such approaches on the complainants’ land outside of the limits of its right of way. It was further averred that the construction of said road-way for footmen and general travel, on the railway company’s right of way, constituted an additional burden on complainants’ land which was unauthorized by law, and that the construction of said road-way for general travel over the appellant’s right of way, and over the complainants’ ’ land, “would utterly destroy the value of the ferry privilege attached to said lands, and cause almost a total loss * * * of the money invested in said ferry, ferry franchises, privileges, and other ferry property.”

The foregoing statement discloses the material facts on which the appellees predicated their right to injunctive relief. The case is stated more at length in the opinion of the lower court. 46 Fed. Rep. 546. It is evident that the existing injunction cannot be sustained on the ground that the railway company had begun to construct approaches to its bridge suitable for foot-passengers and vehicles, outside of the limits of its right of way, and on lands at the time occupied by the appellees. The injunction as awarded is clearly too broad to be sustained solely on that theory, for the reason that it in effect restrains the railway company from permitting wagons and foot-passengers to have access to its bridge over any part of its right of way heretofore mentioned, which is the only method of gaining access to the bridge that seems to be possible. The right to an injunction, however, is not rested exclusively or mainly on the ground last suggested. It is contended in behalf of the appellees, that the railway company has no authority to permit any part of its right of way to be traveled over by vehicles or foot-passengers for the purpose of reaching the bridge, because that would be subjecting the right of way to a new use, without compensation; and, furthermore, that a court of equity, when appealed to, must of necessity award an injunction to prevent the imposition of such additional servitude. We are of the opinion, in view [117]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 F. 114, 1 C.C.A. 183, 1892 U.S. App. LEXIS 1174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kansas-a-v-ry-co-v-payne-ca8-1892.