69 Conn. 47 | Conn. | 1897
In the court below the plaintiff applied for an injunction to restrain the defendants from building the electric street railways described in the complaint, which were designed, as it was alleged, to parallel the steam railroad of the plaintiff.
The complaint contains two counts. The first asks for the injunction chiefly on the ground that the defendants propose to build said railways in the public highways, without having a finding from the Superior Court, ora judge thereof, that public convenience and necessity require their construction ; while the second asks for it chiefly on the ground that the defendants propose to build said railways in part over routes other than those prescribed in their charters.
Upon the facts found, and with reference to the first count, the defendants made certain claims which the court overruled; while upon the facts found, and with reference to the second count, the plaintiff made certain claims which the court overruled. On the first count, upon the facts found, the court held that the plaintiff was entitled to an injunction as prayed for; while upon the facts found applicable tp the second count, it held that the plaintiff was not entitled to an injunction, and rendered judgment accordingly. The defendants appeal from the rulings under the first count, and the plaintiff from those under the second count.
The facts found, so .far as they are material to the consideration of both appeals, are the following: The plaintiff is a steam railroad company organized under the laws of this State, owning and operating a railroad carrying freight and passengers, whose main line connects the cities of Hartford an.d New Britain, passing through the town of Newington. It has five stations between its Hartford and New Britain stations, two of which are in Newington; and at all of which some of its trains stop. Each of the three defendants is a
In March, 1896, the Central Railway and Electric Company and the Hartford Street Railway Company, two of the defendants, having secured control of the charter and management of the Newington Tramway Company, the other defendant, entered into a written agreement “for the purpose of securing the construction and operation of said Newington electric railway, in connection with their companies, as one continuous through line of railway from the center of the city of Hartford to the center of the city of New Britain. . . . The connecting pieces of railroad which these defendants are building and threaten to build will, in connection with the existing railways of said Hartford and Central companies, make one continuous railway and parallel the main line of the plaintiff from Plainville to New Britain and thence to Hartford, in all seventeen miles.” Said railway, building and to be built, passes through the towns of New Britain, Newington and Hartford; and “an appreciable, that is, a substantial part ” of it, is in the public highways; and that part of it to be built by each of the defendants “ will be, in an appreciable degree, in the public highways.” Neither of the defendants has obtained from the Superior Court, or any judge thereof, a finding that public convenience and necessity require the construction of said proposed street railway or any part thereof. “ The sole purpose and object of the construction of the proposed railway is to constitute a direct street railway route from New Britain to Hartford for the carriage of passengers and packages. Said railway will, to a considerable extent, accommodate some of the inhabitants of Newington. The whole length of this proposed route from the center of Hartford to the center of New Britain is about 54,647 feet, of which about 25,232 feet are within the town of Newington. The total length of the proposed route is about 34,000 feet. The proposed railroad within the town of New Britain is 2,894 feet, and is all' on private land. About 1,800 feet within the town of Newington are within the public highways, including about 1,300 feet for highway
The appeal of the defendants will be first considered. The defendants in the court below, upon the facts found, claimed: (1) that the proposed railways were not to be so built or extended in the public highways as to come within the prohibition of § 8, Chap. 169 of the Public Acts of 1893; (2) that even if they did come within such prohibition, the plaintiff “ had not sufficient interest to maintain this action ” under the first count. The court below decided against both claims, and the question upon the defendants’ appeal is whether in so doing it decided correctly.
With reference to the first claim the defendants contend that the statute in question should receive a reasonable construction, to the effect that unless the parallel railway runs “ mainly, principally, or substantially ” in the highways, it is not within the statutory prohibition. If the statute in question is construed so as to absolutely prohibit any street railway, which when built from one town to another will parallel an existing railroad, from occupying any portion of the public highways without the statutory finding, then the statute itself provides a definite and certain rule of action ; but if it is to be so construed as to permit some proportionate part of such “ parallel ” railroad line to be laid in the public highways, without such statutory finding, then the statute furnishes no certain rule, because it does not determine the extent of such proportionate part. Under this last construction the question whether the statutory finding was necessary, would be a question to be determined from the facts and circumstances of each particular case, and it would be difficult if not impossible to lay down any definite general rule upon the subject. In the present case we deem it unnecessary to decide as between these two constructions, or to lay down any general rule upon this subject, for we are satisfied that upon any construction of the statute the proposed railroad of the defendants comes within the statutory prohibition. It
The next question is whether “ any legal or equitable right of the plaintiff was invaded by the construction of the proposed railway,” so as to entitle it to the injunction granted; and we are of opinion that it was entitled to such injunction. The eighth section of the statute under consideration was, we think, enacted for the protection of railroads in existence and operation against proposed roads that would “ parallel ” them, as well as for the benefit of the general public. It provides that “no street railway shall.hereafter be built or extended from one town to any other town in the public highways, so as to parallel any other street railway or steam railroad, unless authorized by special charter prior to January 1st, 1898, until the company desiring to build, construct, or extend such railway shall have applied to the Superior Court or any judge thereof, and shall have obtained from such court or such judge, in the manner hereinafter required and provided, a finding that public convenience and necessity require the construction of such street railway.” It further provides that upon such application made to the court or judge for such a finding, any steam railroad com-
With reference to the plaintiff’s appeal, the court below found in substance that the proposed route of the street railway in question does not follow at all points the charter routes of the defendants, or either of them, but deviates therefrom more or less; that the part of the route proposed to be built by the Hartford Street Railway Company, from its present terminus to the boundary line between the towns of Hartford and Hewington, it is not authorized by its charter to build; that what the three defendants were attempting to do in building the proposed street railway, was ultra vires as to each and all of them; but it also held, contrary to the claims of the plaintiff, that the plaintiff had no sufficient interest by reason of the above facts to have the defendants restrained by injunction from doing the proposed acts.
The sole question, then, upon the plaintiff’s appeal, is whether the plaintiff had sufficient interest to maintain this suit upon this ground alone; and this depends upon whether any legal or equitable rights or interests of the plaintiff were
It is claimed, however, that if the plaintiff has no right to complain of authorized and lawful competition, it has the right to be protected against unlawful competition. What is meant by an unlawful competition in this connection ? It means a competition (1) unlawful as against the State alone, without being an invasion of any legal or equitable right of the plaintiff; or (2) unlawful as against the plaintiff alone ; or (3) unlawful both as against the State and the plaintiff. Clearly, the plaintiff can complain only of unlawful acts which invade some legal or equitable right belonging to it; acts which of themselves are of such a character as to constitute a breach of some legal or equitable duty imposed by law upon the defendants toward the plaintiff. For instance, we think the law of 1893, before referred to, imposed upon the defendants, in favor of the plaintiff, the duty not to build
The acts complained of in the second count are merely ultra vires acts, illegal in a certain sense as against the State, but in and of themselves invading no right, legal or equitable, of the plaintiff. Neither the plaintiff’s charter, nor any law of this State, imposed a duty upon the defendants towards the plaintiff not to build a railwaj’’ deviating from the chartered route, or not to build one beyond the chartered termini, or not to exercise powers and rights not granted to them. The State, or the stockholders, may restrain the defendants from exercising powers not conferred by their charters, but this does not confer any right of action in this respect upon the plaintiff, unless its own legal or equitable rights are invaded by such exercise.
There is no error in the judgment complained of.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.