Cravens v. Rodgers

• Decision Date: 30 June 1890
• Parties: Cravens et al., Appellants, v. Rodgers
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

14 S.W. 106

101 Mo. 247

Cravens et al., Appellants, v. Rodgers

Supreme Court of Missouri

June 30, 1890

Appeal from Daviess Circuit Court. -- Hon. C. H. S. Goodman, Judge.

Affirmed.

Hicklin & Yates for appellants.

(1) The railroad had the power to authorize Haynes to build platform for his exclusive use. 2 Redfield, Railways [3 Ed.] sec. 184 pp. 225-6; 1 Redfield, Railways, sec. 27, p. 93, par. 2. The exercise of the license is neither a monopoly nor an infraction of public policy. Richmond v. Railroad, 26 Iowa 191. (2) If the Haynes platform occupied all the ground south of the platform at depot on which carriages could approach for passengers, so that respondents would have to go on Haynes' platform or be excluded from railroad platform, then respondents would have a right equal with appellants to go upon, and occupy, the Haynes platform. 4 F 284. But the evidence shows there was a space of thirty feet immediately west of the Haynes platform, about as favorable for getting passengers as the space covered by the Haynes platform; and, except in times of mud, could be occupied by respondents with their carriages with comparative ease and comfort. Appellants, in a spirit of fairness, offered their thirty feet of platform to respondents to be enjoyed in common, provided respondents would add ten feet of platform on the west end of appellants' platform, but this reasonable offer was refused. The right to the exclusive use of the platform, acquired by Haynes from the railroad, was acquired by appellants from Haynes. Respondents desire to invoke the primeval rules of property, by which all things were free to all persons, by which labor bestowed on a chattel, or a rude home, in fashioning it to the fancy and comfort of the occupant, would be lost by laying the chattel down, or turning the back on the home, to be enjoyed by the next man who happened to come that way, till the results of such a system were regarded as a hardship on the provident man, when the system was changed, so as to allow each man to permanently enjoy the fruits of his own care and industry. If a man, by proper permission, puts up a hitching post in front of his dwelling or place of business, on a public street, does not the use of the post belong exclusively to him who put it up, there being ample room for others to erect a like convenience?

Rush, Alexander & Stephens for respondent.

Brace J. Barclay, J., absent.

OPINION

Brace, J.

-- This is an action to enjoin defendants from using a platform at a railroad depot. Plaintiffs allege in their petition that as owners they are engaged in operating a bus, hack and carriage line between the city of Gallatin and the depot of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, distant about a half mile from said city, and that defendants also own and operate a similar line between said city and said depot.

"That one Scott T. Haynes, on or about the day of November, 1883 while he was engaged in operating the said line now owned and operated by said plaintiffs, made and constructed by and with the consent of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company (which said railroad company plaintiffs aver is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the state of Missouri, which on said day last aforesaid operated and controlled, and now operates and controls, the railroad on which said depot is situate), a platform of wood and stone, at great expense to him the said Scott T. Haynes, beginning about ten feet west of the west end of said depot, extending west about thirty feet along and adjoining to the platform constructed and maintained by the said railroad company for the accommodation of passengers, and south about twenty-three feet from the said platform so constructed by the said railroad company. That the said platform, constructed by the said Haynes aforesaid, was made upon the ground of the said railroad company with their full knowledge and express consent, for the especial use of him, the said Haynes, and none other, in order that his teams and vehicles might have a place on which to back up to, or approach, the said platform at the said depot for the reception of passengers and baggage, free of mud, and a heavy grade.

"That the said Haynes continued to use and enjoy the platform by him constructed as aforesaid, from and after the date of its construction, in pursuance of the license, permission and consent of the said Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company, till on or about the third day of March, 1885, when he, the said Haynes, sold and transferred his bus, hack and carriage line, with all its privileges and immunities, embracing the privilege and license to use and occupy and enjoy said platform constructed by him as aforesaid, to plaintiffs herein.

"That the defendants, without the consent, and against the will and wish of plaintiffs, have driven upon, and used and occupied said platform constructed by said Haynes as aforesaid, and thereby have prevented plaintiffs from reaching the main platform at said depot, except at a place where the grade is heavy, and the mud often deep. That by so doing the defendants have deprived, and continue to deprive, plaintiffs of the free...