196 Pa. 442 | Pa. | 1900
Opinion by
The appellee, the Bristol and Bridgewater Railroad Company, was incorporated under the act of assembly of April 4, 1868, for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating a railroad in the county of Bucks. The articles of association designated, as required by the act, “ the places from and to which the road is to be constructed, maintained and operated,” as well as its length, “ as near as may be.” The proposed road, as located by the company, passes for a distance of about 1,250 feet over the land of Henry L. Gaw, Jr., fronting on the north side of the Frankford and Bristol turnpike road, in Bristol township. He filed a bill in the court below setting forth the proposed taking of his land by the railroad company, and, for
But a single question is raised on this appeal, and that is, the right of the appellee to construct its road, as located, by virtue of the right of eminent domain. On the argument, other questions were discussed by counsel, but they do not now fairly arise and need not be considered. The learned judge in the court below was of the opinion, and so held, that the company appeared to be proceeding regularly to possess itself of its roadbed, by virtue of power conferred upon it by the act of assembly under which it was incorporated, and that in the absence of proof that its action was taken for the purpose of evading and defeating a former decree of the court, or to do some illegal act, equity could not interfere with the exercise of the statutory rights which it possessed. No other view could have been properly taken. The appellant invoked the act of June 19, 1871, and prayed that the court would examine and ascertain whether the defendant did, in fact, possess the right or franchise to do what it had undertaken. That act makes it the duty of the court in which proceedings are had to examine,