West Chicago Street Railroad v. People Ex Rel. City of Chicago

201 U.S. 506, 26 S. Ct. 518, 50 L. Ed. 845, 1906 U.S. LEXIS 1774
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedApril 9, 1906
Docket241
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 201 U.S. 506 (West Chicago Street Railroad v. People Ex Rel. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Chicago Street Railroad v. People Ex Rel. City of Chicago, 201 U.S. 506, 26 S. Ct. 518, 50 L. Ed. 845, 1906 U.S. LEXIS 1774 (1906).

Opinions

Mr." Justice Harlan

delivered the opinion of thé court.

This case presents some questions of jurisdiction and constitutionality arising out of the relative rights and duties,of’ the city of Chicago and the West Chicago Street Railroad Com[514]*514pany in respect of a tunnel maintained by that company under the South Branch of Chicago river, at or near Van Burén street in that city.

The judgment in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, was in favor of the railroad company, but it was reversed in the Appellate Court, First District, the.former court being directed to give to-the city the relief asked. Upon appeal to the Supremé Court of Illinois a judgment was rendered in favor of the city.

The contention of the company is that the judgment under review cannot be sustained consistently either with the contract clause of the Constitution .of the United States or with the due process of law enjoined by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The case presented by the record is substantially as will be now stated.

On or about April 2, 1888, the City. Council of Chicago adopted in due form the following ordinance :

“Whereas, the board of directors of the West Chicago Street Railroad Company, on the second day of April', 1888, by and at the request of the Mayor of the city of Chicago, adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That the West Chicago Street Railroad Company, in consideration of the passage and approval by the Mayor of the three ordinances passed by the City Council of- Chicago on the thirtieth day of March, 1888; one granting to the West Division Railway Company the right to change its motive power from horse to cable or electric power; one granting to the Chicago Passenger Railway Company the right to make the same change; and one granting to the West Chicago Street Railroad Company the right to construct its tracks on Jefferson street between Madison and Washington streets, and to use horse, cable or electric power thereon, hereby agrees by and with the city of Chicago at its own expense to construct a tunnel 'under the Chicago river and acquire the necessary right of way therefor on a route to be located by;said company between Madison and Twelfth streets, with the east terminus at Fifth ¿venue or west thereof,, and [515]*515the western terminus at Halsted street or east thereof; provided, however, that this company shall have the right from said city to construct said tunnel under any intervening street or streets and said river within said limits, but such location and construction shall be such as not to. interfere with the capacity, usefulness or grade of said streets; said tunnel to be used by this company for street railroad tracks, and the construction thereof shall be commenced within three.years and be completed within four years after the said City Council shall grant permission to said railroad company to make said improvements, unless prevented by injunctions or strikes,- and the time said construction is so interfered with shall be added to said four years, all work to be done-in a maimer satisfactory to the Commissioner of Public Works, and the tracks through the tunnel,shall be connected with the street railroad tracks controlled by this company. Now, therefore, be it ordained, by the City Council: That the agreement in said resolution contained be and the same is hereby accepted by and on behalf of the city of Chicago as a. consideration from said company for the passage and approval by-the Mayor of the ordinances in said resolution specified, and authority is hereby granted said company to make the improvements therein mentioned.-”

When this ordinance was passed there was in force what is known -as the Horse and Dummy Act,, passed in 1874, which provided: “That any company which has been or shall be incorporated under the general laws of this State, for the purpose of constructing, maintaining or operating any horse or dummy railroad or tramway, may enter upon and appropriate any property necessary for the construction, maintenance and'oper-b ation of its road, and all necessary siding, side, tracks and appurtenances, and may,, subject to the provisions contained in this act, locate and construct' its road upon or over any street, alley, road or highway, or across or over any waters in this State, in such manner as not to unnecessarily obstruct the public use of such street, alley, road or highway, or interrupt the navigation of such waters.”

[516]*516In West Chicago Street R. R. Co. v. The People, 214 Illinois, 9, 19, the Supreme "Court of Illinois, referring to this act, said: “This act was an addition to the charter of any company organized under the general incorporation act, and its provisions have existed under some form ever since; conferring powers, upon street railroad companies organized as the defendant is. It gave the defendant the right to construct its railroad either over or across the . Chicago river, which included -the tunnel, subject to the condition contained in it. Defendant could only hold real estate for the transaction of its business of maintaining and operating a street railroad, and the-statute fixed the conditions under which it might use its real estate for building the tunnel.

The tunnel was completed by the railroad company in March, 1894, and has ever since been used and is now being used as a passageway under the river for its cars. When constructed (as well as at the present time) the water in the South Branch of the Chicago river over the tunnel near Van Burén street varied in depth from seventeen to eighteen-and three-tenths feet.

On the third day of March, 1899, Congress passed a River and Harbor Act, among the provisions of which was one directing the Secretary of War to cause surveys to be made and the cost of improving certain rivers and harbors to be estimated and reported to Congress, as follows: “Improving Chicago river in- Illinois: survey and estimate of cost for .a channel twenty-one feet deep from its .mouth to the stock yards, on the South Branch, and to Belmont avenue, on the North Branch so far as may be permitted by existing docks and wharves, exclusive of .cost of removing or constructing bridges or piers or lowering tunnels; and the aforesaid depth of twenty-one feet is hereby adopted as the project depth for the improvement in lieu of that fixed by the act of June third, eighteen hundred and ninety-six; Provided, that all the,work of removing and reconstructing bridges and piers and. lowering tunnels necessary to permit a practicable channel with said depth to [517]*517be obtained shall be done, or caused to- be done, by the city of Chicago, without expense to the United States. ” 30 Stat. 1121, 1156.

After the passage of that act steps were taken to dredge the Chicago river so as to deepen its channel in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress, and, it is alleged, such work “has been proceeding under the authority and supervision of the Government of the United States, for the purpose of providing a sufficiently deep channel for the uses and purposes of commerce and navigation as aforesaid. ”

For the purpose of obeying the act of Congress, and in order to .obtain a free and unobstructed navigation of the Chicago river for the benefit of commerce, interstate and domestic, the City Council of Chicago, on the nineteenth day of March, 1900, duly passed the following ordinance: “ Whereas, by act of Congress of March 3,,1899, it is provided that in the survey ánd esti- .

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Bluebook (online)
201 U.S. 506, 26 S. Ct. 518, 50 L. Ed. 845, 1906 U.S. LEXIS 1774, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-chicago-street-railroad-v-people-ex-rel-city-of-chicago-scotus-1906.