Louisville Trust Co. v. Cincinnati Inclined-Plane Ry. Co.

91 F. 699, 10 Ohio F. Dec. 646, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2434
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern Ohio·Decided December 24, 1897·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

TAFT, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The grant in the mortgage was, first, of “the railways, rails, bridges, and real estate * * * belonging to or held by said company.” Now, there is not a word here containing the slightest suggestion that these words refer to future-acquired property. In the absence of such .words, they must be construed to mean such property then in existence and owned by the mortgagor. The grant was, second, of “all the tolls, incomes, issues, and profits to accrue from the same or any part thereof.” This language limits the income, tolls, and profits to those accruing from “the railways, rails, bridges, and real estate” then in existence and owned by the mortgagor. To hold otherwise would be to ignore the plain effect of the words “to accrue from the same or any part thereof.” A vigorous argument has been made to sustain the claim that the words “income, tolls, and profits” manifest the intention of the mortgagor to mortgage the subsequently acquired extension of the railway, because income was necessarily future, and includes by implication the means of producing the same, and so would embrace after-acquired property from which such income could be derived. It is said that this is the necessary effect of the case of Coe v. Railroad Co., 10 Ohio St. 372. It was there held that the power to pledge property and income implied the power to pledge after-acquired property, because income would be derived from property then owned and to be acquired. The reason wliy the construction of the statutory power of a company in that case can have no application to the case at bar is that here the income pledged is expressly limited to that derived from the previously described railway and real estate, which, as already said, was the railway and real estate then owned by the mortgagor company. Whether income, tolls, and profits from such railways and real estate may include future to be acquired rolling stock and equipment needed to earn the income from the existing railway is a different question, and will be considered later. The grant, third, was cf. “all and singular, the cars and rolling stock.” This language; cannot be extended to include any more than the cars and rolling stock then owned by the mortgagor. The grant, fourth, was of the franchises and property, real and personal, of said company, including said leased railway. This included the franchises then owned by the mortgagor, except the franchise of its incorporators to be a corporation, and the then owned real and personal property of [702]*702the mortgagor. It is suggested that, as these franchises included the franchise to add to the property already owned and to extend the railway, it should he held that the mortgage of such a franchise and the property includes property which might be acquired under such a franchise. I cannot see why this should be so. It is one thing to mortgage a right, and quite another to mortgage property^ acquired under and by virtue of the exercise of the right. The right does not include the property. Jones, Corp. Bonds, § 97. Finally, the grant is of “all the rights, easements, incidents, and appurtenances unto the hereby-granted premises belonging or in any wise appertaining.” No words are here used that can be strained to mean future-acquired extensions of the line.

It is further said that because, under the case of Coe v. Railroad Co., 10 Ohio St. 372, the mortgagor company had the power to mortgage its subsequently acquired property, and because the mortgagors granted what they did grant expressly “under and by virtue of the power and authority in them vested by the laws of the state of Ohio, and of all and every power and authority in them in any wise vested,” the mortgagor company must be held to have granted subsequently acquired property. This is an unwarranted use of the language quoted. All that these words can mean is that the mortgagors wish their act to be valid, and rely on every possible source of authority for the same. They do what they do by virtue of all of their powers, however derived; but an expression of a desire to validate the act cannot logically enlarge or change the character of the act as it is described in the words which follow, and which we have just been considering. It follows from what has been said that, unless the statutes of Ohio provide otherwise, the mortgage of Goodman covers the inclined plane, and only the railway, or so much thereof as is still in existence, extending from the inclined plane south to Fifth street, and from the inclined plane north to the Zoological Garden, and does not cover the extension of the railway from the Zoological Garden to Carthage.

Let v. recur now to the question left open,—as to whether the mortgage of the income to accrue from the railway then existing and owned by the mortgagor does not include subsequently acquired rolling stock and machinery used in connection with the railway to earn the income, profits, and tolls accruing therefrom. I think this must be answered in the affirmative. No tolls or income or profits could be earned from the railway without rolling stock and equipment. The mortgage of the income would give the mortgagee the right to take possession of the mortgaged railway upon condition broken, and take and enjoy the income, but no income could be earned without the rolling stock then in use upon the railway. As against the grantor, therefore, it must be taken that it intended to mortgage with its railway all the rolling stock owned by it and used by it during the existence of the mortgage from which it would earn an income subject to the mortgage. This is the effect of Justice McLean’s reasoning in Coe v. Pennock, 5 Fed. Cas. 1172, and of the case of Pullan v. Railroad Co., 4 Biss. 35, Fed. Cas. No. 11,461. See, also, State v. Northern Cent. Ry. Co., 18 Md. 193.

[703]*703The question remains how this view will affect the lien upon the rolling stock and equipment in the case at bar. The first mortgage will certainly cover all the machinery and equipment used to run the inclined plane, whether new or old. It will also cover all the electrical machinery in the power house at the head of the inclined plane, because that was needed to earn the income from the railway covered by the first mortgage. Of the rolling stock, however, it is quite manifest that it would not all be needed to operate 3 miles of road, when it is sufficient to operate 11 miles of road. An equitable estimate, then, of the rolling stock needed to earn the income from the 3 miles of road, could be founded on the proportionate mileage, or three-elevenths of the entire rolling stock now in use. This estimate may need amendment, if it is true that more rolling stock is needed on the city end of the line than in the rural district; and Goodman, trustee, may have a reference to the master upon this point, if he desires it. I do not think that the fact that part of the three miles of track between the Zoological Garden and Fifth street has been lost to the mortgagor by expiration of franchises and otherwise ought to have any effect to reduce Goodman’s pro rata share of the rolling stock, because the rolling stock was for a long time used on the whole three miles, and, being so used, it was properly included within the personal property needed to produce the income to accrue from the three miles of road mortgaged, and the mortgage lien then attached to it. The power to mortgage after-acquired property, real and personal, is established in Coe v. Railroad Co., 10 Ohio St. 372, and in Coopers v. Wolf, 15 Ohio St. 523. The only question here is whether the parties have intended to do so in this case, and have used apt words for this purpose.

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

Louisville Trust Co. v. Cincinnati Inclined-Plane Ry. Co., 91 F. 699, 10 Ohio F. Dec. 646, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2434 (circtsdoh 1897).

91 F. 699 (Louisville Trust Co. v. Cincinnati Inclined-Plane Ry. Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Vrooman v. Burdett.
83 S.W.2d 95 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1935)
Atwater v. Wheeling & L. E. Ry. Co.
56 F.2d 720 (Sixth Circuit, 1932)