The Town of East Hartford, Plaintiff In Error v. the Hartford Bridge Company

• Decision Date: 01 December 1850
• Citation: 51 U.S. 511,10 How. 511,13 L.Ed. 518
• Parties: THE TOWN OF EAST HARTFORD, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. THE HARTFORD BRIDGE COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

51 U.S. 511

10 How. 511

13 L.Ed. 518

THE TOWN OF EAST HARTFORD, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. THE HARTFORD BRIDGE COMPANY.

December Term, 1850

THIS was a writ of error to the Supreme Court of Errors for the state of Connecticut.

The defendant in error filed its petition in the Superior Court, holden at Hartford, for an injunction restraining the town of East Hartford (plaintiff in error), its servants, agents, &c., from the use of a certain ferry over the Connecticut River, and from receiving tolls, &c. Upon the hearing of the cause on petition, answer, and the report of a committee appointed to inquire into the facts, the injunction was granted; and upon being carried to the Supreme Court of Errors, the decree of the court below was affirmed. Whereupon the case was brought here by writ of error, under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act.

The report of the committee was as follows, omitting the documents referred to therein, and which were appended to the report:——

'To the Honorable Superior Court, to be holden by adjournment at Hartford, in and for the County of Hartford, on the second Tuesday of June, A. D. 1843:

'At an adjourned term of said court, holden at said Hartford on the 1st day of May, 1843, upon a bill in equity then and there pending before said court, in which bill the Hartford

Bridge Company is complainant, and the town of East Hartford and Samuel Brewer, of said town of East Hartford, are respondents, the subscribers were appointed a committee to find and report to said court, at an adjourned session thereof, to be holden at Hartford aforesaid, on the second Tuesday of June, 1843, the facts in said bill, and the answer thereto. And having duly notified the parties of the time when, and the place where, we would meet and hear them in relation to the facts in said bill and answer contained, we, in conformity with said notice, met the parties on the 6th day of June instant, at the city court-room in the said town of Hartford, and, having been first sworn according to law, fully heard them, from day to day, by their counsel and with their testimony and witnesses, and now find and report the facts following, viz: That in the month of December, 1681, the town of Hartford passed a vote regulating the tolls to be taken at the ferry over Connecticut River, between said town of Hartford and what is now the town of East Hartford; which appears by a copy of said vote hereunto attached, and marked A. That on the 31st day of March, 1682, said ferry was, by said town of Hartord, leased to Thomas Cadwell for the term of seven years; a copy of which lease is attached hereunto, marked B. That on the 13th day of December, 1687, said lease was renewed to the same Thomas Cadwell for the further term of seven years; a copy of which renewal is attached hereunto, and marked C. That on the 27th day of December, 1694, said town of Hartford chose a committee to contract with some person to take the ferry upon the best terms in their power; of which vote a copy is attached hereunto, marked D. That on the 15th day of January, 1695-6, said committee engaged the said Thomas Cadwell to take the ferry aforesaid for seven years; of which lease a copy is hereunto attached, marked E. That at the session of the legislature in October, 1695, the tolls to be taken, both at the Hartford and Windsor ferries, were regulated by law, as will appear by an act in the edition of statutes, 1695. That the tolls or fares to be taken at the Hartford ferry were regulated by legislative enactments, as appears in the edition of statutes, 1808. That from the year 1681 until October, 1783, said ferry continued to be the franchise of said town of Hartford, and during that period was used and enjoyed as such by the town of Hartford alone; but that the legislature, at their session in October, 1783, incorporated the town of East Hartford, granting to said town of East Hartford one half of said ferry during the pleasure of the General Assembly; a copy of which act is hereunto attached, marked F. That said town of Hartford, on the 1st day of February, 1810, for the consideration

of an annual rent of forty-five dollars, leased its moiety of said ferry to Daniel Buck and Elisha Williams for the term of five years, and that the payment of the rent reserved in said lease was duly made by said lessees up to the year 1814, when, in consequence of the reduced travel across said ferry, said town of Hartford exacted of said Buck and Williams no rent thereafter; but that certain individuals interested in the business and real estate on Ferry Street, in said town of Hartford, and others, at their own expense, procured a ferry-boat, which was run across said ferry, and from which they received no toll whatever, and no compensation, other than an allowance made by the ferryman for the use of the boat, the town of Hartford making no opposition to this use of their right, which continued until the year 1818. That at the session of the General Assembly in October, 1808, upon the petition of John Watson and others, an act or resolve was passed incorporating the said John Watson and others by the name of the Hartford Bridge Company, and granting them liberty to erect a bridge across Connecticut River, and to raise and build a causeway through the meadows of East Hartford; which act or resolve is made a part of this report, and is contained in the volume of Private Acts of the state of Connecticut, at the 254th page. That the petitioners, in pursuance of said charter or act of incorporation, erected a bridge across said Connecticut River, and built said causeway through the meadows of East Hartford, and in all things pursued the provisions contained in said act of incorporation, except that said bridge was not so erected that the travel was on a horizontal line in the chord of the arch, nor were the piers as high as contemplated by the act of incorporation; but said bridge and causeway, after the same were completed, were accepted by John Cadwell, Jonathan Brace, and Andrew Kingsbury, Esquires, a standing committee by the General Assembly appointed in said act of incorporation, for all the purposes mentioned in said act, whose certificate, marked G, is hereunto attached; and that no objection to the mode or manner of the erection of said bridge in not having the travel thereon on a horizontal line in the chord of the arch, nor to the height of said piers, has been made known until after the petition which the petitioners preferred to the October session of the General Assembly in the year 1817; but that the General Assembly has once and again acted upon the subject of the tolls of said bridge, and other interests appertaining thereto, and granted the petitioners a new charter in the year 1818, without claiming that the charter of 1808 was forfeited by a noncompliance with any of the conditions thereof. That the petitioners, on the 3d day of October, 1817, made application

to the General Assembly for a discontinuance of said ferry between the towns of Hartford and East Hartford; which petition is hereunto attached, marked H; upon which petition the General Assembly passed a resolve or act; which resolve or act is copied, and is hereunto attached, marked I. That under said resolve the petitioners expended large sums in the repairs of said bridge and causeway, under the inspection of the said John Cadwell, Jonathan Brace, and Anthony Kingsbury, Esquires, who, by said act or resolve, were by said General Assembly constituted a committee or commissioners to superintend the repairs on said bridge and causeway. That in erecting or repairing said bridge, the petitioners, from time to time, received directions from said committee or commissioners, which directions were followed and obeyed, and said causeway and bridge were repaired and ready for the accommodation of the public on the 1st day of December, 1818, as appears by the certificate of said committee or commissioners hereunto attached, marked K; but in the erection of said bridge by the petitioners, that part of the wood-work or floor of said bridge which is opened or unfolded for the passage of vessels, was constructed only 24 feet 7 inches wide, while the space underneath, between the abutment and pier of said bridge on the west side, through which the hull of vessels must pass, is more than 30 feet wide. That no delay has ever been occasioned to any vessel in passing through said bridge for want of space or room through which to pass; nor does it appear that any objection against the width of the passage through said bridge was ever raised by the public, or by those who are in the habit of passing with their vessels through said bridge, until after the year 1836. And this committee are of opinion, and do find, that, notwithstanding the opening in the wood-work of said bridge, through which vessels are to pass, does not exceed 24 feet 7 inches in width, yet there is adequate room for the accommodation of all who have occasion to pass through said bridge with their vessels, and no inconvenience is suffered by the public in consequence of the narrowness of the passage through the wood-work of said bridge. And although the rights of the petitioners in relation to said bridge, and their compliance with or violation of the terms and provisions of their several charters, have been frequently, both incidentally and directly, the subjects of discussion and debate before the General Assembly, and their decision upon said points been had, yet has no real or apparent noncompliance on the part of the petitioners with the terms or provisions of the charter of 1818, in neglecting to make the opening in the wood-work of said bridge for the passage of vessels wider than 24 feet 7 inches, ever been deemed or adjudged by

said General Assembly a violation of said charter, or a forfeiture thereof, notwithstanding they have once and again been urged to come to such a conclusion. That on the 21st day of April, 1837, S...