133 N.C. 216 | N.C. | 1903
This was a controversy submitted to the Court without action upon an agreed state of facts. By an act of the General Assembly a stock law was established in Chat-ham County through which the defendant’s road passes. The
It is undoubtedly true that as between the railroad and the owner of the land condemed, the former acquires by condemnation proceedings only an easement to be used for the purposes set out in its charter. It is equally clear that the Corporation Commission, the agency appointed for the assessment of railroad property, is directed to assess and value the right of way, etc., as personal property.
The liability of railroads for assessment for local improvements has been the subject of much discussion and conflict of decision. Elliott on Railroads, section 786, says: “There is a conflict in the adjudicated cases as to whether or not the right of way of a railroad company is subject to local assessment. The question has been discussed in a great number of instances and different conclusions reached in apparently similar cases. The latest authorities on the subject, however, recognize what we believe to be the true rule, and that is, that where the right of way receives a benefit from the improvements for which the assessment is levied, and there is no statute exempting the railroad company from local assessments in clear and unequivocal terms, it is subject to assessment.” In Northern, etc., R. Co. v. Connelly, 10 Ohio St., 159, it is said: “If railroad tracks are taxable for general purposes, it is difficult to perceive why they should not be subject also to special taxes or assessments.” The question seems to have been decided by the Supreme Court of Illinois in a number of cases, the latest being Cicero Ry. Co. v. City of Chicago, 176 Ill., 501, in which it is said: “It is true that the street railway company did not acquire the fee in the street, but by the ordinance the street railway company obtained the right to occupy and use the street for a period of twenty years.
It having been settled by this Court that it is within the power of the Legislature to establish stock law districts and provide for an assessment upon the land therein to pay for building and maintaining the common fence, upon the theory that the land within said territory receives a special benefit from the establishment of the stock law, we can see no reason why all of the land and all such interests as are capable of
We simply decide in this case two questions:
1. That the road-bed and right of way of the defendant is liable to an assessment for local improvements as other real estate.
2. That the assessment levied by the Commissioners, based
The judgment of bis Honor is,, therefore, Affirmed.