Caretta Ry. Co. v. Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Co.
| Decision Date | 26 April 1907 |
| Citation | 57 S.E. 401,62 W.Va. 185 |
| Parties | CARETTA RY. CO. v. VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL CO. et al. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Submitted September 11, 1906.
Syllabus by the Court.
A company organized under and pursuant to the laws governing the organization of railroad companies in this state has the power to exercise the right of eminent domain, and the taking of property necessary for its corporate purposes is for a public use.
The fact that a charter for a railroad has been granted to a corporation does not, conclusively and beyond consideration establish the right of the corporation to take land for its use. Whether the particular corporation has such right may be passed on under all the facts and circumstances by the courts.
A railroad company, chartered and organized under the laws of this state, is authorized to condemn land under the power of eminent domain, and where it has filed a proper application for such purpose, and shows that it has complied with the law controlling the organization of such companies it has the prima facie right to exercise such power, and it then devolves upon the owner to rebut the prima facie case by showing that the land sought to be condemned is not for public use.
Private property may be taken for public use upon paying or securing to be paid just compensation, and, while the question as to whether or not a particular use is a public use is one for judicial determination, yet, if a particular use is declared by the Legislature to be a public one, the courts will hold such use public, unless it plainly appears not to be so.
Whether a use is public or private is to be determined by the character of such use, and not by the number of persons who enjoy it, or avail themselves of it.
The fact that the route of a proposed railroad is through a mountainous and sparsely settled country, or that the number of persons who will use the road for the purpose of transporting freight, or for passenger service, is limited is immaterial, provided all have a right so to use it.
Error to Circuit Court, McDowell County.
Action by the Caretta Railway Company against the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company and others. From a judgment in favor of defendants, plaintiff brings error. Reversed and remanded.
W. B Kegley, Rucker, Anderson, Strother & Hughes, and Stokes & Sale, for plaintiff in error.
S. M. B. Coulling and Chapman & Gillespie, for defendants in error.
SANDERS, P.
Application was made to the circuit court of McDowell county by the Caretta Railway Company to condemn lands for the purpose of constructing a railroad, of which proper notice was given to the parties interested in the property sought to be condemned. One of the defendants, W. F. Harman , appeared and filed an answer, claiming to be the owner of the land sought to be condemned, contesting the corporate existence of the plaintiff, denying that the plaintiff, by its charter, is authorized to construct and operate the line of railroad for which it is seeking to condemn the land, and denying that the land proposed to be taken is for public use. Upon the hearing the circuit court held the applicant not to be such a corporation as under the laws of this state has the power to exercise the right of eminent domain, that the proposed use of the land sought to be condemned was not a public use, and that the applicant had no right to condemn the same, and dismissed the application, and it is this judgment that we are now called upon to review.
There can be no question that a railroad company, duly organized and chartered under the laws of this state, is such a corporation as can exercise the power of eminent domain. Our statute expressly so provides; and it is difficult, indeed, to determine upon what theory the circuit court could find that the applicant was not such a corporation as had the right to condemn the property in question. It was duly chartered under the laws of this state as a railroad corporation, was organized as such, and had taken all the necessary steps for the purpose of acquiring the land sought to be taken; and, when these things appear to have been done, the only material question involved is whether or not the use to which the land proposed to be taken is to be put is a public one. The rights of the public in railroads organized and chartered under the laws of this state are fixed and well defined by our statute. The duties and obligations of the railroads are likewise well prescribed and defined. They are constituted public highways, for the purpose of carrying freight and passengers, which purpose they must fullfil, and as to the doing of which they have no discretion, and the compensation which they are to receive for such transportation is fixed by law, and thus the public has an established interest in such railways. They are organized and operated under and pursuant to the laws of this state, and are controlled and regulated by law. It is true that they are owned by private stockholders. All corporations are thus formed; but while this is true, and they are managed and controlled by private individuals, yet this does not rob them of their public character , nor deprive the public of the rights given them therein by statute. This court has repeatedly held that it is a question for judicial determination as to whether or not the use for which land is to be appropriated is a public use, and that, while the Legislature may authorize the condemnation of property, yet the courts must at last determine whether or not the exercise of that power for that particular purpose, authorized by the Legislature, is a public use. The Legislature cannot, by declaration, no matter how clearly expressed, make that a public use which is essentially private. "Both reason and authority lead us to the conclusion that the existence or nonexistence of a public use in any given class of cases, in which the Legislature has authorized private property to be condemned, must be determined by the courts." Varner v. Martin, 21 W.Va. 534; Railway Co. v. Iron Works, 31 W.Va. 710, 8 S.E. 453; Balt, etc., R. Co. v. Pittsburg, etc., R. Co., 17 W.Va. 812; Gas Co. v. Lowe, 52 W.Va. 662, 44 S.E. 410. A company organized under and pursuant to the laws governing the organization of railroad companies in this state has the power to exercise the right of eminent domain, and the taking of property necessary for its corporate purposes is for a public use. We have attempted to show that it is the established rule under statutes giving and securing to the public such interests and rights as are given to them under our statute by which railroad companies are organized and controlled that the use is a public one. Then it remains to be determined as to whether or not the railroad corporation, in invoking the power of eminent domain, is in the lawful exercise of its corporate privileges and franchises. It is true a charter to a railroad company is not conclusive upon the question of the right to condemn land; but, where a railroad company has acquired its charter, organized as provided by law, and located its railroad, it is prima facie entitled to condemn. As was said in the case of Varner v. Martin, supra: "Though if a particular use of it be declared by the Legislature to be a public use, the courts will hold such use to be public unless it manifestly appears that it is not a public use." U.S. v. Gettysburgh Electric Ry. Co., 160 U.S. 668, 16 S.Ct. 427, 40 L.Ed. 576; Woodward v. Central Vt. Ry. Co., 62 N.E. 1051, 180 Mass. 599. Therefore, when it appears that the applicant has complied with the provisions of the statute, it devolves upon the landowner to show that the use for which the land is sought to be taken is not a public use.
It appears that the Caretta Railway Company is a railroad corporation, chartered and organized under the laws of this state, and that the purpose for which it seeks to condemn the land in question is that of constructing a branch line to the Iaeger & Southern Railway, and ultimately to connect the branch then constructed with the Clear Fork Branch of the Norfolk & Western Railway, or what is better known as the West Virginia & Southern Railway. The branch line, for the purpose of constructing which the land is here sought to be condemned, begins at the mouth of Barranshe creek, and extends for a distance of two miles up that creek. It is insisted that the railroad runs up Barranshe creek to a lumber camp on the lands of the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company, which company owns a body of about 15,000 acres of land, which is valuable only for its coal and timber; that if this road is constructed, it furnishes transportation for the coal and timber of the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company to the Iaeger & Southern Railway, and by this road furnishes an outlet to market; that it is further shown that the stock of the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company is held to a very large extent by one George L. Carter, and that at least a majority, if not...
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