112 Mich. 4 | Mich. | 1897
This bill was filed to restrain the defendants from prosecuting a certain ejectment suit against the complainant to recover the possession of certain lands used for railway purposes, situated in the city of Gladstone, this State, and also to adjudge and decree that the making, approval, and filing of the plat of the Marble addition to Gladstone (being a subdivision of lot 2, section 21, township 40 N., of range 22 W., Delta county, Mich.) was a dedication to the public and to complainant of the premises described for railway purposes, and that the plaintiffs in the ejectment suit are not entitled to possession thereof; and that the court decree and adjudge that the complainant, as the successor of the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway Company, acquired, and still has, equitable rights in and to the right of way over said premises, and that the defendants are estopped from ejecting complainant therefrom; and that the court adjudge and decree what damages, if any, shall be paid by the complainant to the defendants as compensation for the use of said right of way. There is also a general prayer for relief. An affidavit is attached to the bill, made by the chief engineer of complainant, which will be hereafter referred to. This bill was demurred to by the defendants, and the demurrer sustained in the court below.
It appears from the bill that the complainant is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of this State; that, in the year 1888, articles of consolidation of four railway corporations, namely, the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway Company, the Minneapolis & St. Croix Railway Company, the Minneapolis & Pacific Railway Company, and the Aberdeen, Bismarck & Northwestern Railway Company, were approved by the board of railway consolidations, and duly filed in the office of the secretary of state of this State, whereby the said four railway companies were consolidated, and be
It is further alleged that about the date of the entry of said Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway on said lot 2, and the commencement of the con
It is further alleged, as a reason why condemnation proceedings have not been commenced, that it was expected that all right of way matters would be amicably settled and adjusted, and that, relying upon the negotiations with Stephenson, the railway company has expended large amounts of money in constructing its railway, and in maintaining and repairing the same; that the westerly track, shown on the plat annexed to the bill, is a part of the main line' of complainant, which now extends from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to Portal, on the north line of the State of North Dakota, a distance of over 1,000 miles, and connects at each point with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and forms a part of a trunk line from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. It is further claimed by the bill that the complainant has an extensive freight and passenger traffic, is engaged in carrying United States mail, and express for the Western Express Company, and employs a large number of men, and is a public highway; and that the 'removal of its tracks from said lot 2 would result in great and irreparable injury and loss to the traveling public, to all persons living along the line of its railway, and to the complainant; and that, by the acquiescence of the defendants in its operation and maintenance since the year 1887, the complainant has acquired equitable rights in said right of way, and that defendants should be estopped from ejecting complainant therefrom.
It is shown by the affidavit attached to the bill that the easterly track of the complainant on said lot 2 extends to the elevator, coal dock, and sheds of complainant, and is the only track over which the wheat and other produce is conveyed from said main line to said elevator, and the coal shipped westward and elsewhere from said coal dock and sheds; and that over 1,000,000 barrels of flour and over 3,000,000 bushels of grain were carried over its track to
It is contended by counsel for defendants that there is no allegation in the bill that Mr. Stephenson had any authority to sell the lands of the N. Ludington Company, or to grant rights of way. We think there is sufficient allegation of that fact, and that question will not be further discussed.
It is next contended that a permanent interest in and by way of an easement cannot be acquired by parol license. That question was settled in this State in Wood v. Railroad Co., 90 Mich. 334, and cases bearing on the question are there collected. It was held in that case that a parol license to a railroad company to enter upon land, and construct its road, is revocable at the will of the owner. It was held in Maxwell v. Bridge Co., 41 Mich. 453, that such a license is revocable, and was revoked ipso facto when the licensor conveyed the premises. We think these rules are too well settled in this and other courts to need further discussion.
But counsel for complainant contends that, however this may be, when lot 2 was platted by the owners, and the plat approved by the auditor general, and duly filed and recorded, and the plat showing these lands set apart for railway purposes, it operated as a dedication to the public and to the complainant for railway purposes. Counsel for defendants contend that there is nothing in the designation on the plat of this strip of land to indicate that it
The questions here presented arose in the case of Watson v. Railway Co., 46 Minn. 321. It appeared in that case that a plat of the lands contained a strip across the plat, marked “Reserved for right of way, line of S. M. R. R.” It was claimed upon the part of the railroad company that this showed an intent to dedicate the lands so marked for railroad purposes. It was held, however, that the effect of this was not to dedicate the land to the railroad company by the statutory dedication, and that the railroad company could not take title by common-law dedication. It was said by the court:
“It is argued that a railway company is a public or quasi public corporation; that its purposes and duties are public; that its use of land held and used by it for the purpose of its railroad is a public use, and that lands dedicated for that purpose are dedicated to the public for public use. From the arguments used, it might be inferred that the title of such a company to the lands held by it is merely nominal,—held by an agent for its principal, no rights or interests of its own being involved. Fortu*12 nately for such corporations, and for the public also, this is not the view the courts take of the relation between the corporation and the property held by it. The lands acquired by the corporation for the purposes of its enterprise are, so far as the right of property is concerned, private property. If purchased, the corporation pays for them; if taken in the exercise of the right of eminent domain, it pays the compensation. It is true they are charged with a public duty, which the corporation, in consideration of the rights and powers conferred on it by the State, assumes to perform, and which the State can compel it to perform. * * * The corporation, for its own profit and advantage, accepts the franchises offered by the State, and assumes to perform the functions and duties required by the State, not with property furnished it by the State, but with its own property. The ownership of the property is private, though the use required to be made of it is public.”
The same rules were laid down in Louisville, etc., R. Co. v. Stephens, 96 Ky. 401; Todd v. Railroad Co., 19 Ohio St. 514; Lake Erie, etc., R. Co. v. Whitham, 155 Ill. 514 (46 Am. St. Rep. 355).
In People v. Salem, 20 Mich. 478 (4 Am. Rep. 400), this court, in speaking of railroads, said:
“They are not, when in private hands, the people’s highways; but they are private property, whose owners make it their business to transport persons and merchandise in their own carriages, over their own land, for such pecuniary compensation as may be stipulated.”
We think that the contention of counsel for defendants is correct that the making and filing of the plat did not operate as a dedication of these lands to the public or to the complainant for railroad purposes. It may be a matter of hardship to the railroad company, after all these years of occupancy, and after expending large sums of money in improvements, to be compelled to take condemnation proceedings; but we are unable to agree with its counsel that it acquired title by this parol arrangement, or that it can hold land by dedication.
We think the court below was correct in dismissing the bill. The decree will be affirmed, with costs.