148 Minn. 214 | Minn. | 1921
A condemnation proceeding was instituted by the petition of the Northern Pacific Kailway Company to take the land of the defendant, in order to lay certain sidetracks which had been ordered by the State Kailroad and Warehouse Commission. The order was made on the application of the G. E. Gee Grain Company, and provided that, if the Gee company should be unable to acquire the land by purchase, it should be the duty of the railway company to acquire it by condemnation, and that, when acquired, the sidetracks should be laid for the service of the Gee company and for all other purposes, except that at all times the Gee elevator should have railway service.
At the hearing of the petition, defendant moved that the proceeding be dismissed on the ground that it was founded on an invalid order of the commission. The motion was denied. Defendant then asked that the railway company be required to elect whether it would proceed on the basis of the commission’s order or under its power of eminent domain as a railroad company. The court denied the request, took the evidence offered by the parties, respectively, and made an order determining that the public interest required the land to be taken for railroad right of way purposes. Commissioners were appointed and made an award of dam
In support of its appeal defendant urges: (1) That the proceeding was in fact brought under the authority of and for the purpose of enforcing the order of the commission; (2) that the order was in excess of the powers of the commission-; (3) that the property is sought to be taken for a private and not for a public use; (4) that the governing body of the railway company did not authorize the proceeding.
“The power * * * inheres in the state as an attribute of its sovereignty, and is vested in the legislature.” State v. Van Reed, 125 Minn. 194, 145 N. W. 967.
“The sovereign power rests in the legislature, and may be directly exercised, or delegated to governmental agencies or administrative bodies, and to public or private corporations.” School District No. 40, Rock County v. Bolstad, 121 Minn. 376, 141 N. W. 801.
The legislature has directly delegated the power to railroad companies, irrespective of the prior authorization or direction of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission.
We think the contention should not be sustained. It appears that the new tracks have been laid and that the physical situation above described in fact exists. 'There is nothing, however, to prevent the railway company from changing the situation by putting in a crossover or shifting the location of its switches. It owns the ground and the tracks, and controls the operation of the cars run over the tracks. The Gee company’s easement, whatever it may be, cannot prevent the railway company from operating the new tracks for the benefit of the public, though it may possibly require some change in their present construction.
The contention now under consideration has been made in other cases where substantially the same state of facts existed. We do not discuss it, but refer to the decisions which, in our judgment, foreclose defendant from maintaining its position. Chicago, B. & N. R. Co. v. Porter, 43 Minn. 527, 46 N. W. 75; Stewart v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 65 Minn. 515, 68 N. W. 208, 33 L.R.A. 427; State v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co. 115 Minn. 51, 131 N. W. 859; Ochs v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. 135 Minn. 323, 160 N. W. 866, Ann. Cas. 1918E, 337; Range S. L. B. Co. v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 137 Minn. 314, 163 N. W. 656, L.R.A 1918B, 784; Union Line Co. v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. 233 U. S. 211, 34 Sup. Ct. 522, 58 L. ed. 924; Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. v. Ochs, 249 U. S. 416, 39 Sup. Ct. 343, 63 L. ed. 679.
We find no error of which defendant may justly complain, and therefore the judgment is affirmed.