52 N.J. Eq. 58 | New York Court of Chancery | 1893
The parties to this suit, both complainant and defendant, are railroad corporations. The complainant was organized under the General Eailroad law of this state and is a citizen of this state; the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company was created a corporation by the legislature of Pennsylvania and is a citizen of that state; and the United Yew Jersey Eailroad and Canal Company was created a corporation by the legislature of this state and is a citizen of this state. Several years ago the United Yew Jersey Eailroad and Canal Company leased its railroads and other property to the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, subject to the payment of an annual rent of nearly two millions of dollars, with a right of re-entry in case the lessee made default in the payment of the rent reserved for ninety days, or failed to perform any other covenant of the lease. Eecently the complainant has acquired a right, against both defendants, to construct its railroad under and across the railroad of the defendants. For such right, it is alleged, that just compensation has been made in a manner authorized by law. After just compensation had been made, the complainant attempted to construct the crossing, which it had acquired a right to construct, and thereupon both defendants, as it is alleged, by certain acts and omissions prevented the complainant from constructing the crossing. This suit was then brought to obtain an injunction prohibiting the defendants from further preventing the construction of the crossing, and also, if necessary, for the appointment of a manager to regulate the use of the easement which is held by the parties in common. The Pennsylvania Eailroad Company now claims the right to remove this suit to the circuit court of the United States, on two grounds — -first, because its determination involves the decision of a question arising under the constitution of'the United States; and second, because the suit embraces a controversy which is wholly between it and the complainant, and which can be fully determined as between them without the presence of the United Yew Jersey Eailroad and Canal Company. To effect such removal, a petition and bond have been presented. The com
The way it is claimed that a question under the federal constitution arises between these parties is this: The complainant instituted proceedings to condemn a right for its railroad to cross that of the defendants; coihmissioners were appointed, who made an award; both parties appealed — the.- complainant appealed and both defendants also appealed; pending the appeals, the circuit court of the county of Hudson, in which the appeals were triable’ on the application of the complainant, and against the protest o’f both defendants, ordered the plan of crossing to be amended, and on the trial of the appeals, directed that the amended plan should be adopted' as the basis on which compensation should be awarded. This action of the Hudson circuit court, it is contended, was not only without warrant of law, but constituted a violation of that provision of the federal constitution which ordains: “ Nor shall any state deprive any person of * * * property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Without stopping to discuss whether, if it were conceded that the decisions of the Hudson circuit court, on the points in dispute, were erroneous, such errors could, under any circumstances, be held to constitute a denial of the constitutional rights of the defendants, within the meaning of the provision above quoted, it is enough, for the purposes of this application, to say, that if this suit were removed, nothing can be more certain than that the circuit court of the United States could not, in this
That such is the effect which the circuit court of the United States, and all other tribunals not possessing appellate jurisdiction, must give to this judgment is a proposition that is not open to debate. It is recognized as a cardinal rule in all enlightened systems of jurisprudence. In the language of Mr. Justice Miller, in Harvey v. Tyler, 2 Wall. 328, 342: “Whenever it appears that a court possessing judicial powers has rightfully obtained jurisdiction of a cause, all its subsequent proceedings are valid, however erroneous they may be, until they are reversed on error or set aside by some direct proceeding for that purpose.” And Chief-Justice Beasley, in McCahill v. Equitable Life Assurance Society, 11 C. E. Gr. 531, 538, stated the same principle in these words: “ The decision of a court of general jurisdiction, acting within the scope of its powers, has inherent in it such conclusive force that' it cannot be challenged collaterally, and that such decision definitely binds all parties embraced in it unless, on objection made to such court itself, or in a direct course of appellate procedure.” The same principle was laid down by Mr. Justice Grier in Peck v. Jenness, 7 How. 617, 624, and by Mr.
It is thus made plain, as I think, that the question the Pennsylvania Railroad Company claims has arisen between it and the complainant, under the constitution, is not involved in this suit but is entirely outside of it, and for that reason cannot be agitated in this suit either in this court or in the circuit court of the United States. If such a question has arisen at all between these parties, it arose on the trial of'the appeals before the Hudson circuit court and was there decided. If further litigation respecting it is desired, it can only be had, according to the established principle, by the removal of the judgment embracing it, by a direct proceeding, to some tribunal having power to review the decisions of that court. Such power neither exists in this court, nor in the circuit court of the United States.
By an act of congress, approved August 13th, 1888, amending the prior act of March 3d, 1887 (Rev. Sup. p. 611), the circuit courts of the United States are given original jurisdiction, concurrent with the courts of the several states, of all suits of a civil nature, at common law or in equity, in which there shall be a controversy between citizens of different states in which the matter in dispute exceeds a specified value. The act' also provides, that when a suit shall have been commenced in any state court, of which the circuit courts of the United States are given original jurisdiction, the same may be removed into the circuit court of the United States for the proper district, by the defend
“And when in any suit mentioned in this section there shall he a controversy which is wholly between citizens of different states, and which can be fully determined as between them, then either one or more of the defendants, actually interested in such controversy, may remove said suit into the circuit court of the United States for the proper district.”
This provision constitutes the second ground on which the right of removal is based. It formed part of the act of March 3d, 1875. The second clause of the second section of that act was expressed in precisely the same words. - 18 Stat. pt. 3 p. 4-70. Their meaning has been settled by repeated decisions of the supreme court of the United States.
The claim of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company is, that there is in this suit a separate and distinct controversy or cause of action between it and the complainant, which is capable of being finally determined, as between them, and complete relief given without the presence of the other defendant. In other words, that this suit is founded on a cause of action in which the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company has no interest whatever, but which is so entirely and exclusively between the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the complainant that it may be properly and safely heard and determined, and full and complete justice done to every right and interest involved in the controversy, with them alone as the parties litigant before the court, and without the presence of any other person. To authorize the removal of this suit, this claim must be found to be true in all its essential parts, for the rule is well established, as was said by Chief-Justice Waite in Fraser v. Jennison, 106 U. S. 191, 194, and repeated in Ayres v. Wiswall, 112 U. S. 187, 192, and also in Louisville Railroad Co. v. Ide, 114 U. S. 52, 55, that the provision above quoted only authorizes the removal of “ suits where there exists a separate and distinct cause of action, on which a separate and distinct suit might have been brought and complete relief aiforded as to such cause of action,
These adjudications define with precision what controversies or causes of action are sufficiently distinct and separate to be subject to be removed from a local court to a federal court in cases where the defendant, applying for removal, is a citizen of a different state from that in which the plaintiff has his citizenship, although there may be other defendants to the suit who are citizens of the same state with the plaintiff. But how is the
That this suit is the proper subject of equity cognizance is free from all doubt. The law is settled that one railroad corporation may acquire the right, by condemnation, to construct a •crossing for its road over that of another railroad corporation. 'On the acquisition of such right, the land, at the point of crossing, becomes subject to an easement in favor of both corporations. And the court of errors and appeals, speaking by Chancellor McGill, has declared, that “ if, in the use of this common easement, whether it be acquired under proceedings to condemn a crossing in a specified manner or under proceedings to condemn a crossing generally, conflict should at any time arise between the companies, the interposition of equity may be -invoked to secure to each the enjoyment of its privilege in a lawful manner.” National Docks Railroad Co. v. United Companies, 24. Vr. 217, 244. An essential part of the right which the complainant has acquired is the right to construct a crossing — its road cannot cross that of the defendants until a crossing has been built— hence the work of construction constitutes a lawful and necessary use of the easement which it has acquired.
Now, on looking into the complainant’s bill, it appears, that •every wrongful act, which the complainant states as the foundation of its right to relief, and against which it asks for judicial protection, is charged to have been done by the defendants jointly. And the same is true of’ every wrongful omission alleged in the bill. All the wrongful acts and omissions set forth are alleged to have been done and omitted by the defendants, acting in concert to effect a common purpose. There can be no doubt, therefore, that if the complainant shall, on the final
My conclusion is, that the suit is not removable, and this court is, therefore, under no duty to surrender its jurisdiction.