Southern Pac. Co. v. City of Portland

177 F. 958, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5351
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedApril 4, 1910
DocketNo. 3,407
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 177 F. 958 (Southern Pac. Co. v. City of Portland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Pac. Co. v. City of Portland, 177 F. 958, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5351 (D. Or. 1910).

Opinion

BEAN, District Judge.

)(This is a suit to enjoin the city of Portland from enforcing ordinance No. 16,491, adopted in May, 1907, making it unlawful for the Oregon Central Railroad Company, “its successors, assigns or their lessees, or any other person, firm' or corporation, to run or operate steam locomotives or freight cars over, upon or along Fourth street between Glisan street and the southerly limits of the city of Portland, from and after 18 months from the final passage or approval of this ordinance, excepting freight cars for the reconstruction, repair or maintenance of the railway lawfully and rightfully on said street.” The plaintiff is occupying and using the street in question for railway purposes, as the assignee, lessee, or successor in interest of the Oregon Central Railroad Company, which, by ordinance No. 599, approved January 6, 1869, was “authorized and permitted to lay a railway track and run cars over the same along the center of Fourth street, from the south boundary line of the city of Portland to the north side of ‘G’ (now Glisan) street, and as much farther north as said Fourth street may extend or be extended upon the terms and conditions” as therein provided. By section 3 of the ordinance:.

“Tlie common council reserve tbe right to make or alter regulations at any time as they deem proper for the conduct of the said road within the limits of the city, and the speed of railway cars and locomotives (within said limits) and may restrict or prohibit the running of locomotives at such time and in such manner as they may deem necessary.”

The terms and conditions of the ordinance were accepted by the grantee, and it proceeded to construct its' road along the street, and such road has ever since been used and operated by it and its successors in interest for railway purposes, and numerous freight and passenger trains propelled by steam locomotives now pass over the road daily.

At the time of the passage of ordinance No. 599, the city had no express authority given it to grant franchises for the construction or operation of railroads on its streets. Under the general law of the state, however, a railroad corporation was authorized, when necessary and convenient in' the location of its road, “to appropriate any part of any public road, street or alley or public grounds”; but, if it desired to appropriate a street within the limits of an incorporated town or city, the company was required to locate its road upon such street as the local authorities might designate. Section 5077-5078, B. & C. Comp. Or.

The plaintiff contends that this legislation and the ordinance of the city designating the street upon which its grantee should locate its road .gave to the grantee and its successors or assigns a perpetual right or franchise to use the street for railway purposes, which cannot be revoked or impaired by subsequent legislation, and that ordinance No. 1.6,491 is void, so far as it prohibits the use of steam locomotives or freight cars on or along the street because: First, it impairs the obligation of the contract under which the road was located, and inter[961]*961feres with vested rights of properly; second, it deprives the plaintiff of its property without due process of law; third, it deprives it of the equal protection of the laws; and, fourth, it is an unlawful interference with interstate commerce.

The position of the city, on the other hand, is: First, that at the time of the passage of ordinance No. 599 the city had no power or authority to grant franchises for the use of its streets for railway purposes; second, that such ordinance was merely a license or permission on the part of the council to the grantee named therein to use the street, revocable at any time; third, that the grant was personal to the grantee, and it had no power or authority to assign or transfer the rights thereby granted without the consent of the city; and, fourth, that by the terms of the ordinance the city reserved the right to regulate the use of the street for railway purposes to the exclusion of steam locomotives and freight cars therefrom whenever in the judgment of the council such legislation was necessary or advisable.

1 do not deem it necessary to consider all of these questions at this time. In any view, the city -was vested with the right and power at the time ordinance No. 599 was passed to designate the street upon which the company should locate its road, and this carried with it the power to impose reasonable conditions to such grant or permission which, when accepted bv the grantee, became binding upon it. Pitts-burg, C. & St. L. Ry. W Hood, 94 Fed. 618, 36 C. C. A. 423; Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. City of Mobile, 162 Fed. 523.

Whether the ordinance is considered a franchise, license, or mere permission, it gave the consent of the city to the use of the street for railway purposes upon certain terms and conditions, and when accepted became in effect a contract between the city and the company. It may be conceded for the purposes of this case that the city could not subsequently revoke the permission thus given or impair or destroy the rights thereby conferred. No attempt is made to do so by ordinance No. 16,491. Its only purpose is to regulate the use of the railroad. The passage of ordinance No. 599 did not deprive the city of its police powers (N. P. v. State of Minnesota, 208 U. S. 583, 28 Sup. Ct. 341, 52 L. Ed. 630; Beer Co. v. Mass., 97 U. S. 25, 24 L. Ed. 989; Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623, 8 Sup. Ct. 273, 31 L. Ed. 205), nor of the right to exercise the power and authority expressly reserved and stipulated in the contract between it and the railroad company. The grant or permission was made or given by the city and accepted by the company upon the terms and conditions therein specified, which, among other things, included the right of the city to make regulations for the-conduct of the road at any time the common council might deem proper, to regulate the speed of the cars and'locomotives, and to restrict and prohibit the running of locomotives at such times and in such manner as the council may deem necessary. The authority thus reserved is broad and general in its terms, and, while a technical construction of some of the language may support the argument of the plaintiff that it was thereby intended to reserve the power to regulate and not prohibit the use of steam locomotives, I think the plain intention was to reserve the right to make such rules and regulations covering the operation of the road as might, from time to time, be nec[962]*962essary even to the extent of prohibiting the use of steam locomotives or freight cars whenever such legislation might be necessary for the safety or convenience of the public. If, however, the language of the ordinance is involved or doubtful, it should be construed against the grantee and in favor of the public, for, as said by the Supreme Court in O. R. N. v. Oregonian Ry., 130 U. S. 1, 9 Sup. Ct. 409, 32 L. Ed. 837:

“When a statute makes a grant of property, powers, or franchises to a private corporation or to a private individual, the construction of the grant in doubtful points, should always be against the grantee, and in favor of the government.”

See, also, to the same effect, Freeport Wtr. Co. v.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
177 F. 958, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-pac-co-v-city-of-portland-ord-1910.