Oviatt v. Akron Street Railroad

2 Ohio N.P. 84
CourtSummit County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedApril 15, 1895
StatusPublished

This text of 2 Ohio N.P. 84 (Oviatt v. Akron Street Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Summit County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oviatt v. Akron Street Railroad, 2 Ohio N.P. 84 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1895).

Opinion

VORIS, J.

Motion to continue preliminary injunction to restrain street railway company from laying down an additional side track in the public street in front of plaintiff’s abutting premises, which premises are located on grade of sidewalk and curb, and occupied as an express office; the street railway company claiming the right to so construct by grant and ordinance of the city of Akron, which gave authority to the defendants to construct, maintain and operate a street railway system by single or double tracks with side tracks, turnouts, etc., by electricity; the franchise to continue in force twenty-five years from its date, two-thirds or more of which time has yet to run. The defendant under the grant having construcetd a single track road with what it then considered suitable sidetracks and turnouts six or seven years ago, and ever since has operated the same, and now proposes to construct and operate a side track or turnout in the street on grade of pavement, abutting plaintiff’s premises, as part of its railway system.

[85]*85The foregoing facts are not disputed, nor is there any contention that the side track is not being constructed in tbe most approved manner now in use, and pursuant to the ordinance that among other things it requires the double track to be laid equi-distant from center line of the street at proper distance for passage of cars, or that it is not. fairly adjusted to the grade of the street which is paved with stone; but it is said by the plaintiff, that the defendant having constructed and operated only a single track railway, with side tracks and turnouts adequate to suit its own convenience when it constructed its road, having then exercised its election, cannot- now construct other side tracks or turnouts under its grant from the city, without the consent of plaintiff, or payment of damages.

Is the election of defendant in that regard final, or may the railway company so enlarge its facilities by virtue of its grant, as the future public convenience may require? That defendant railroad company may increase its car service, by additional and improved cars, and by making more trips per day, is too clear for any rational doubt. To increase its number of trips, makes an additional number of side tracks and turnouts indispensable; then on what principle can the right to lay down the necessary side tracks or turnouts be denied? Tbe same right that gives defendant authority to improve its car service, impliedly gives it the right to increase or enlarge its permanent structures requisite to enable it to so improve its car service. Rights which in no reasonable sense wore abrogated or yielded up by reason of the fact that defendant made its improvement with reference to the public needs at- the time it constructed its railway.

It seems lo the court absurd to say that a franchise granted for a street railway system in a rapidly growing city, for twenty-five years, the wants of which are in embryo, that its owner must make an election to start with, and proceed to construct and operate upon a' basis that will conclude it from any further-enlargement of its facilities, except upon the condition of making new appropriations and securing new grants, as increased facilities are demanded by the public. The contrary view, that it would be compelled by the public to enlarge as the public convenience requires, seems more rea-,sonable.

It is objected, that the side track is to be laid to afford facilities required bty reason of the extension of the railway lo Cuyahoga Falls, and Silver Lake, and lo aid the line to Cleveland. This is legitimate. The statute provides that a street- railroad may, with the permission of the city duly granted, extend its tracks, R. S. 2505; and sec. 8487 aul horizes street railways with single and double tracks, side tracks and turnouts, to be constructed within or without, or partly within and without any municipal corporation.

The existence of a public street implies that it is subject to any appropriation by the public for any improved facilities which are reasonable and lawful for the better enjoyment of the uses and purposes for which streets are ordinarily used; and for all time to come. The title to the street is a fee in the municipality, held in trust to and for the uses and purposes of a street. R. S. 2601. The controlling purpose being to provide for the public, practical and convenient means of travel. What these uses and purposes are, must be defined not upon conditions existing at tbe time of the dedication or appropriation of the land for the street, or of granting the franchise, but upon such present and future conditions as rmiy arise by reason of the expansion of the municipality in all the legitimate developments of urban existence.

Tbe rights which tbe abutting owner, other than as one of tbe public-, may exercise in the lands within the street, depend upon the extent of the [86]*86use which the public needs reasonably require at any given time, as and for a public street. In a mere village, a narrow' roadway on the original surface, may be all that is required. As it increases in population, grading, curbing, guttering, sewers, sidewalks and paving become essential improvements, to which the whole width of the street must yield. .This grow'th also may demand water and gas mains, hydrants, lamp posts, over-hanging wires, street railway tracks, etc., all of which uses are implied in the trust estate held by the municipality expressed in the terms, “to and for the uses and purposes of a street. ”

In the village, the public use may be very meagre. In the populous city, radically exclusive of all private use of the abutting owner that may interfere with the public convenience, except- that of access to and from his abutting premises. The abutting owner’s right to compensation in case of any particular use of the street, depends upon the fact whether the proposed use is within or without the purposes for which public streets exist. If the contemplated purpose is within the proper use of the street, then the abutting owner has no ground for complaint. If not, the proposed use would be a perversion of the street, a violation of the trust vested in the public, and w'ould entitle the abutting owner to compensation to the extent of the injury done. The rights of the abutter to special, private enjoyment of the lands of a public highway are accidental, and exist as the public convenience is urgent or insignificant. In a city, the whole width of a street may be required. In the country, the abutter may plant and harvest his potatoes along the margin of the traveled roadbed. But his easement of light and air, and access to and from the street is his property, the enjoyment of which may not be taken or substantially injured without, right to compensation. But the other rights spoken of are incidental, depending wholly upon the public needs, and must yield whenever the public use requires it. As to them the public right is paramount. As to the others, his right is inviolate, except upon the terms of compensation.

The use of streets for street cars, is as much within its legitimate public function and grant, as curbing, guttering, paving and putting sidewalks thereon, and no more an infringement of the appurtenant private use, than the construction of sewers, water mains, gas pipes, so long as the public use is reasonably exercised and does not wrongfully violate private right by misuser. The public use is defined by statute, (R. S. sec.

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

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2 Ohio N.P. 84, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oviatt-v-akron-street-railroad-ohctcomplsummit-1895.