20 N.J. Eq. 530 | N.J. | 1869
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The object of the bill of the complainant, Prudden, and of the information of the Attorney-General on the relation of Munson, Young, Roderer, and Stickle, is to enjoin the appellants from laying a second track of their railroad through Dickinson street, in the village of Dover, in the county of Morris. The complainant, Prudden, and the relators, are severally the owners of lots fronting on the north side of Dickinson street. The street is sixty-six feet wide. The new track is forty-one feet distant from the north side of the
The intervention of the Attorney-General is sought to be justified on the ground that Dickinson street is a public highway, and that the proposed construction of an additional track by the defendants, through the street, longitudinally, will be such an interference with public rights as to be a public nuisance. The complainant and the relators present their right to the relief prayed for in two aspects, the first of which is based on the public right, and the other upon their private rights, which they claim they became entitled to in the street, by virtue of the boundary of their conveyances thereon.
Dickinson street was never laid out as a public road. It is claimed to have become such by virtue of a dedication by Henry McEarlan, sen., who formerly was the owner of a considerable tract of land in and adjoining the village of Dover. This dedication is alleged to have been made by a survey and map made by McEarlan, about the year 1827, followed up by sales and conveyance of lots designated on said map, and described by referring to the streets laid down on the map.
The earliest map produced as an exhibit is one made by one Van Winkle, a surveyor in the employ of McEarlan, which bears date in March, 1831. A second map, made by the same person, while in McEarlan’s employ, some time between the years 1831 and 1835, was also produced. Before either of these maps were made, the old Union turnpike road ran through the premises, on the line of what is now Blackwell street, to near the corner of Blackwell and Sussex streets; then, crossing the blocks between Warren and Sussex streets, and Sussex and Morris, diagonally, to Dickinson street; and thence, extending eastwardly, either on or near to the site of what is now Dickinson street. By an act of
In the spring of 1846, the defendants surveyed and located their road through Dover, within the lines of Dickinson street, as designated on the map of 1831, and in the course of the same year graded the road-bed, and in 1847 laid rails thereon for a single main track. On the 7th of December, 1848, they procured a deed of conveyance, bearing date on that day, from the trustees of the McFarlan estate, in whom the-fee in the streets was vested, for a strip of fifty feet in width, within the lines of the street, on which their main track was constructed, and on which they now propose to lay an additional track.
Before the defendants commenced the extension- of their railroad from Morristown to Dover,'McFarlan, as an inducement to the defendants to make such extension, agreed to procure the right of way for them, without cost to the defendants, and to obtain the vacation of the public road along side of, and partly within the lines of the route on which their railroad was located. Application was accordingly made to the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Morris for that purpose, and in June, 1848, surveyors of the highways, appointed by the said court, vacated all that part of the public road situate between the intersection of Sussex ' and Blackwell streets and the point of the mountain easterly of the village, and laid out a new road between those points-over Blackwell street, in lieu of'the road so vacated. What effect this extinguishment of the public right will have upon the rights of adjoining proprietors, where the locus in quo is-a -public street in a city or town, and the origin of the public
If we adopt the doctrine generally recognized in the courts of sister states, that the grantee is entitled, as against his grantor and his assigns, to have the street, by reference to which his deed is made, kept open to its full width, either as an incident of the grant itself or by force of a covenant implied from the grant; Parker v. Framingham, 8 Metc. 260; White v. Flannigain, 1 Maryland 525; Moale v. Mayor of Baltimore, 5 Ibid. 314; Transylvania University v. City of Lexington, 3 B. Mon. 27; In matter of Lewis street, 2 Wend. 472; Livingston v. Mayor of New York, 8 Ibid. 85; Wyman v. Same, 11 Ibid. 487; it would necessarily follow that such right may be released by the act of the owner, and discharged or extinguished by an adverse possession for the period of time necessary to ripen a hostile possession into an indefeasable right.
The contingencies, above adverted to, of the vacation by the action of surveyors of the highways, of a public road, coincident in some parts with a street which is claimed to have become a public highway by dedication; and of a claim by adjacent proprietors of private rights, beyond the medium filum vice, by reason of their boundary on a public street ; and also of an adverse possession for the period of twenty years, whereby an extinguishment of such private rights is claimed to have been effected, have arisen in this cause. In view of the opinion of this court as to the propriety of re
The remedy by indictment- being so efficacious, courts of equity entertain jurisdiction over public nuisances with great reluctance, whether their intervention is invoked at the instance of the Attorney-General, or of a private individual who-suffers some injury therefrom distinct from that of the public. “ If,” says Chancellor Kent, “ a-charge be of a criminal nature, or an offence against the public, and does not touch the enjoyment of property, it ought not to be brought within the direct jurisdiction of this court, which was intended to deal only in matters of civil right resting in. equity, or where the remedy at law was not sufficiently adequate; nor ought the process of injunction to be applied, but with the utmost caution. It is the strong arm of the court, and to render its operation benign and useful it must-be exercised with great discretion, and when necessity requires it.” Attorney-General v. Utica Ins. Co., 2 Johns. C. R. 378. In Attorney-General v. The N. J. R. Co., 2 Green’s C. R. 136, Chancellor Vroom gives expression to the hesitancy of courts of equity in entertaining jurisdiction by injunction, of injuries of this nature. He says: “In cases of public nuisance, there is an undisputed jurisdiction in the common law courts by indictment, and a court of equity ought not to interfere in a case of misdemeanor, where the object sought can be as well attained in the ordinary tribunals.” In the recent case of Hinchman v. The Paterson, Horse R. Co., 2 C. E. Green 75, the bill was filed by the owners of lots abutting on Congress and Market streets, in the city -of Paterson, to enjoin the laying of rails for a horse railroad through those streets. In delivering his opinion, Chancellor Green expresses himself against the propriety of the interference of courts of equity to redress injuries of that description, in the following terms: “The injury which the owners of lots upon the street, suffer from obstructions in the street and impediments to traveling, is common to all
It must not be overlooked that the defendants are engaged in a public work, by the completion of which the public interests will be greatly advanced. The injunction by which the progress of the work is arrested, must not only cause great injury to the defendants, but also is the occasion of great inconvenience to the public. In the case of Allen v. Freeholders of Monmouth Co., 2 Beas. 68, it was held that although a bridge which was being erected over navigable waters without competent legislative authority, was technically a nuisance, yet as it was being built in good faith, and for the public benefit, a court of equity would not restrain its erection, even on an information by the Attorney-General in behalf of the public.
Whether the question is viewed in the aspect of a proceeding by the Attorney-General to protect the rights of the public, or of a suit by the complainant and the individual relators to protect their private rights, the most cogent reasons exist for a court of equity abstaining from drawing the controversy within its jurisdiction, until the rights of the parties are settled in a court of law. When the defendants located their road, it w'as with the understanding that the old turnpike road should be vacated, to permit the occupa
The relators being owners of several and distinct lots of land, and having no common interest, cannot join in a bill to enjoin a nuisance common to all, where the grounds of relief are a special injury to each one’s property. A bill filed by them jointly, would be demurrable for misjoinder of parties. Hinchman v. Paterson Horse R. Co., 2 C. E. Green 75. The information cannot, therefore, be retained and considered as a bill filed in their behalf.
With respect to the bill of the complainant, Prudden, as already observed, the highway in front of his premises was coincident with Dickinson street, and the highway has been, vacated by the action of the surveyors of the highways. What rights the complainant acquired in the street beyond the medium filum vice by his deed of conveyance, and the effect of the vacation of the previously existing highway, are questions proper for the determination of a court of law. It must be a strong and mischievous case of pressing necessity, or Idle right must have been previously established at law, to entitle the party to call in aid the jurisdiction of a court of equity. Robeson v. Pittenger, 1 Green’s C. R. 57. For a period of upwards of twenty years the defendants have been permitted to occupy the street for the purposes of their railroad track, under a claim of title, without remonstrance or complaint. The complainant acquired title to the premises, in relation to which he is aggrieved, in 1839. He was owner when the
Regarding the merits of the complainant’s title to relief in •the light of any private right he may have acquired in the street beyond the middle line to have it kept open its full width, by reason of the boundary of his lands thereon, a grave •question arises whether his right has not become extinguished by long acquiescence. The defendants, by their original 'Charter, passed January 29th, 1835, were authorized to lay
The only special injury the complainant will sustain peculiar to himself, and distinct from that of the public in general, is in the inconvenience he may suffer in not being permitted to have wagons ánd vehicles stand in front of his premises, on which are a dwelling-house and a wheelwright shop, for
The order for an injunction is reversed in both cases.
. In Prudden’s case, the vote was as follows:
For reversal — Beasley, C. J., Clement, Depue, Kennedy, Van Syckel, Wales. 6.
For affirmance — Bedle, Woodhull, Ogden, Olden. 4.
In the other case, all the judges voted for reversal except Judge Olden.