Atlee v. Packet Company

• Decision Date: 01 October 1874
• Citation: 88 U.S. 389,22 L.Ed. 619,21 Wall. 389
• Parties: ATLEE v. PACKET COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

88 U.S. 389

22 L.Ed. 619

21 Wall. 389

ATLEE v. PACKET COMPANY.

October Term, 1874

APPEAL from the Circuit Court for the District of Iowa.

The Union Packet Company filed a libel in admiralty, in the District Court of Iowa, against Atlee, founded on the sinking of a barge, for which he, Atlee, was charged to be liable, on the ground that it was caused by a collision with a stone pier built by him in the navigable part of the Mississippi River.

The pier was built in the winter of 1870-71; the collision occurred in April, 1871.

The District Court was of opinion that Atlee had not exceeded his rights as a riparian owner in building the pier where it was, in aid of his business as a lumberman and owner of a saw-mill on the bank of the river, the pier being part of a boom to retain his logs until needed for sawing. But that court was further of opinion that by failing to have a light on this pier during a dark night, Atlee was guilty of a fault which rendered him in part responsible for the collision. As, however, the libellants were also found to be in fault, for want of care and knowledge of this obstruction on the part of the pilot, the District Court divided the damages, and rendered a decree against Atlee for half of them.

The Circuit Court was of opinion that Atlee had no right to erect the pier where it was, and, seeing no fault on the part of the pilot, decreed the whole damage against Atlee. He accordingly appealed to this court.

The appeal was submitted to this court on printed argument, November 26th, 1873, and the decree of the Circuit Court was affirmed by an equal division of the court, which was at that time composed of eight members. On application for rehearing, this decree of affirmance was set aside and a reargument ordered on the question whether the damages should be apportioned, both parties being in fault.

The reargument was accordingly made by briefs at this term, the court being now full, and the whole matter reconsidered.

Mr. G. W. McCrary, for the appellant; Mr. H. S. Howell, contra.

Mr. Justice MILLER now delivered the judgment of the court, stating, at the same time, the more particular and necessary facts of the case.

No question is made of the jurisdiction of the District Court sitting in admiralty.

The testimony is very voluminous, as is also the discussion of it by counsel, but we are of opinion that the decision of the case must rest mainly on undisputed facts, or those about which there is but little conflict of testimony.

We shall assume the truth of the facts which we state as the foundation of our judgment, without a reference to the witnesses by which they are proved.

The pier against which libellant's barge struck is about thirty feet square, constructed of stone and timber, located from one hundred and forty to fifty feet from the bank of the river, in water of the average depth of twelve feet at that place, being ten feet even at a low stage of the water.

At low water this pillar is fifteen feet above the surface, and a foot or two in very high water. A part of the distance between the shore and the pier consists in low water of a sand-bar. Seven hundred feet above the pier this sand-bar tends to a point in the river made by the deposits from a small stream called French Creek, and this point, in relation to the general course of the river, projects something further towards the centre of the channel than Atlee's pier does.

Three-quarters of a mile above the pier is the levee, wharf, or landing-place of the city of Fort Madison.

The appellant was the owner of extensive saw-mills, and of the lands on which they were located, bounded by the river at the point of the location of the pier for some distance above and below. He had built this pier, and another below it, as parts of a boom for receiving and retaining the logs necessary for use in his mill. Some kind of a boom was necessary to enable him to keep these logs safely and economically. No question is made but that if he had a right to build a pier at that place it was built with due skill and care, and that he was blameless in every other respect, unless the absence of a light at night was a fault.

The first question, then, to be decided is whether, in view of these facts, appellant could lawfully build such a pier at the precise spot where this was located.

The affirmative of this proposition was held by the learned judge of the District Court, on the general ground of the analogy which the present case bears to wharves, levees, piers, and other landing-places on navigable rivers, which are built and owned by individuals, and which are projected into the navigable channel of the river farther than defendant's pier. The cases of Yates v. Milwaukee,¹ Dutton v. Strong,² and The Railroad Company v. Schurmeir,³ are cited in support of the proposition. Bridges, also, across these rivers, with piers, which clearly render navigation more hazardous, and which have by this court been held to be lawful structures, are cited in aid of this view.⁴

What is the precise extent to which, in cities and towns, these structures, owned by individuals, or by the town or city corporations, may be permitted to occupy a portion of what had been navigable water, and under what circumstances this may be done, it is not our present purpose to decide, nor to lay down any invariable rule on the subject. It is sufficient to say that we do not consider the case before us as falling within the principles on which that class of cases has been decided.

In all incorporated towns or cities located on navigable waters, there is in their charters, or in some general statute of the State, either express or implied power for the establishment and regulation of these landings.

This may be done by the legislature of the State or by authority expressly or impliedly delegated to the local municipal government. In all such cases there is exercised a control over the location, erection, and use of such wharves or landings, which will prevent their being made obstructions to navigation and standing menaces of danger.

The wharves or piers are generally located by lines bearing such relation to the shore and to the navigable water as to present no danger to vessels using the river, and the control which the State exercises over them is such as to secure at once their usefulness and their safety.

These structures are also allowable in a part of the water which can be used for navigation, on the ground that they are essential aids to navigation itself.

The navigable streams of the country would be of little value for that purpose if they had no places where the vessels which they floated could land, with conveniences for receiving and discharging cargo, for laying by safely until this is done, and then departing with ease and security in the further prosecution of their voyage. Wharves and piers are as necessary almost to the successful use of the stream in navigation as the vessels themselves, and are to be considered as an important part of the instrumentalities of this branch of commerce. But to be of any value in this respect they must reach so far into deep water as to enable the vessels used in ordinary...