68 Mass. 339 | Mass. | 1854
1. The indictment in the present case is for a nuisance. The defendants contend that it cannot be maintained against them, on the ground, that a corporation, although liable to indictment for non-feasance, or an omission to perform a legal duty or obligation, are not amenable in this form of prosecution for a misfeasance, or the doing of any act unlawful in itself and injurious to the rights of others. There are dicta in some of the early cases which sanction this broad doctrine, and it has been thence copied into text writers, and adopted to its full extent in a few modern decisions. But if it ever had any foundation, it had its origin at .a time when corporations were few in number, and limited in their powers, and in the purposes for which they were created. Experience has shown the necessity of essentially modifying it; and the tendency of the more recent cases in courts of the highest authority has been to extend the application of all legal remedies to corporations, and assimilate them, as far as possible, in their legal duties and responsibilities, to individuals. To a certain extent, the rule contended for is founded in good sense and sound principle. Corporations cannot be indicted for offences which derive their criminality from evil intention, or which consist in a violation of those social duties which appertain to men and subjects. They cannot be guilty of treason or felony; of perjury or offences against the person. But beyond this, there is no good reason for their exemption from the consequences of unlawful and wrongful acts committed by their agents in pursuance of- authority derived from them. Such a rule would, in many cases, preclude all adequate remedy, and render reparation for an injury, committed by a
2. We now come to a consideration of the grounds on which the Commonwealth seeks to maintain this indictment. In the first place, it is contended that the legislature, in granting an act of incorporation to the defendants, authorizing them to construct a
3. But the main ground on which the Commonwealth relies, to sustain the present indictment, is the failure of the defendants to comply with the provisions of St. 1851, c. 318, by which they are required to construct and maintain, in their bridge across the channel of the river, a draw of not less than sixty feet in width. The defendants admit that they have not constructed a draw in compliance with this legislative requirement, and rest their defence to this part of the case on the unconstitutionality and invalidity of the act, by which this duty is imposed upon them. To determine this question, it is necessary to recur to the original act incorporating the defendants, St. 1796, c. 19. There can be no doubt as to the legal relations, created by this act, between the government and the defendant corporation. On the part of the former, it was a grant, in consideration of the expected ben
. 4. We are then brought directly to the question, whether the defendants are bound to comply with the provisions of St. 1851, c. 318, by which they are required to erect and maintain a new draw in their bridge across the channel of the river, to be built of the size and in the manner therein specified; and are liable to indictment, solely for a neglect and refusal to carry its requisitions into effect. Applying to the original charter of the defendants, as we are bound to do, the ordinary rules regulating the interpretation and construction of contracts, it will be found that the extent of the duty imposed on them, respecting the erection and construction of the draws over the channel of the river, is clearly set out and defined. They are to erect “ suitable draws, which shall be at least thirty feet wide;”' that is, the minimum width of the draws is prescribed. In all other respects — in their construction, materials, dimensions, and operation—they are to be adapted to the locality in which, they are to be erected, and to
4. But it by no means follows that the defendants are not liable to prosecution, if they have failed to fulfil the duty imposed upon them by the original charter with respect to the construction of the draws in their bridge. If the legislature have no power to determine absolutely what is suitable in this particular, neither have the defendants. We cannot assent to the argument urged upon us in their behalf, that, by the true interpretation of the original act, the defendants were bound only to erect a bridge with draws which were suitable and adapted to the accommodation of navigation on the river at the time of their construction, and that if they continued to maintain them with the same materials, dimensions and mode of operation with which they were originally built, the duty imposed on them by the terms of their charter was fully complied with. We think the scope and purpose of the act were much broader, and that it was framed with a wise forecast to meet future exigencies. In granting to the defendants the right to build a bridge over a navigable stream, and thereby to create a partial obstruction to the freedom of the public in passing over it, the legislature intended
Whether the defendants have in fact complied with the terms' of their charter, by constructing their draws in a suitable man
5. A question was suggested by the counsel for the defendants, as to the sufficiency of the present indictment, on the ground that it does not specifically charge the defendants with an insufficient, improper or unsuitable construction of their draws, but avers that they have created a public nuisance by the erection of their bridge and by filling up and obstructing the channel of the river. Upon looking at the report of the case signed by the judge who tried the cause in the court below, it does not appear that any such question was raised at the trial, or reported for our decision. No objection seems to have been taken to the form of the indictment, except at the argument of the case at the bar of this court. Without having fully considered the question, we are inclined to the opinion that the indictment is not open to the-objection urged by the defendants. If, on a new trial, it shall be-deemed expedient to raise the question in a regular form for the-consideration of this court, it will be then proper to pronounce a formal adjudication upon it.
Verdict set aside.