45 F. 5 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Louisiana | 1891
This cause has been heard on a demurrer. The complainant, under the permission given by the legislature of Louisiana, (Acts 1876, No. 14, p. 31, § 7, subd. 6,) has erected a bridge over tho Atehafalaya river, as part of its railway bod. It is contended by the defendant that the Atchafalaya river is wholly within the state of Louisiana, and that it was competent for tho legislature of that state to give this permission, so all question as to tho authority of the state legislature is taken out of this case. The act of the legislature is a part of the complainant’s bill. The act is a general one, authorizing the complainant to maintain its road over any river, and provided it does not unnecessarily impair the usefulness and convenience of tho river to the public, and
The bill is admirably drawn, and presents with completeness the complainant’s rights. If the injury came from a trespass outside of the prosecution of commerce itself, the relief could be afforded. But the whole right of the complainant here to provoke any interference with the movements of defendant’s boats, if it exists, springs from such a state of facts as would compel the court to act upon the conclusion that, considering the commercial transportation over the railroad as compared with that upon the navigable stream, the interference was not unnecessary. The order or decree sought by the complainant, while it affects only the parties, resembles a general regulation of commerce in this: that it is based upon a balancing of the public convenience of thoroughfares of commerce. I think the claim of the complainant to such interference is one of those doubtful or imperfectly defined rights which, in the absence of more specific legislative designation, must at least be first established at law, where the defendant-may have a trial by jury, before the party asserting the right can invoke the aid of injunction through the court of eouity.
Let the demurrer be maintained.