East Tennessee Co v. Southern Tel Co

• Decision Date: 24 November 1884
• Citation: 5 S.Ct. 168,112 U.S. 306,28 L.Ed. 746
• Parties: EAST TENNESSEE, V. & G. R. CO. v. SOUTHERN TEL. CO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

112 U.S. 306

5 S.Ct. 168

28 L.Ed. 746

EAST TENNESSEE, V. & G. R. CO. v. SOUTHERN TEL. CO.

November 24, 1884.

W. A. Gunter and H. C. Semple, for motion.

Gaylord B. Clark, in opposition.

WAITE, C. J.

Sections 1930, 1931, 1932, of the Code of Alabama, give telegraph companies incorporated by other states a 'right of way over the lands, franchises, and easements of other persons and corporations, and the right to erect poles and to establish offices, upon making just compensation, as now provided by law.' Sections 3580 to 3600, inclusive, prescribe the mode in which such a company may appropriate private property within the state for its uses. Application must be made therefor by petition to the probate court or to the circuit court of the proper county, both of which courts are invested with jurisdiction for that purpose. The proceedings in the court after the filing of the petition are to be in rem, and must 'conform as nearly as may be, except as herein otherwise provided, to the proceedings in rem in the admiralty courts, and be conducted according to the rules of such courts so far as practicable.' Section 3581. Provision is them made for notice of the filing of the petition to the owner of the property (section 3583) and for the impaneling of a jury, 'who, under the direction of the judge, shall well inquire, and true assessment make, of the damages and compensation which the owner * * * shall be entitled to have for the appropriation, * * *; and the assessment of compensation for any right of way shall be made irrespective of any benefit from any improvement proposed by the petitioner.' Section 3586. 'The owner * * * may intervene in the cause for his interest therein, and evidence may be offered on either side; but no delay in the assessment to be made by the jury shall be caused by any controversy or evidence in respect to the title or ownership of the land, or of any part thereof.' Section 3587. 'The verdict * * * shall be immediately entered in proper form upon the minutes of the court, to be kept for such causes, and the amount thereof for each parcel shall constitute the compensation to be paid therefor, as hereinafter directed, before the appropriation thereof shall be made by the petitioner.' Section 3589. It is specially made the duty of the court to speed the cause. Section 3590. 'An appeal to correct errors of law only may be had, if applied for within three months after the assessment, to either the circuit court of the same county or the supreme court; * * * but no appeal shall, during the pendency of it, prevent or hinder the petitioner from occupying the land involved therein, and proceeding to work thereon; but the petitioner, before doing so, shall pay into the court, for the person or persons entitled thereto, the amount of damages and compensation by the jury therefor assessed.' Section 3593. The amount assessed may be paid to the person entitled thereto, or to the clerk of the court. Section 3594.

The Southern Telegraph Company, a New York corporation, being desirous of erecting a line of telegraph from Montgomery, Alabama, by way of Selma to Meridian, in the state of Mississippi, filed in the probate court of Montgomery county, Alabama, an application for the proper proceedings under the Code to enable it to acquire the right of way for that purpose along a line of railroad in Alabama operated by the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad Company from Selma to the Mississippi state line. Upon this application being made the necessary notices were served on the railroad company to appear on the tenth of April, 1884, and a jury was summoned for an inquiry into the amount of compensation to be paid the company for the appropriation sought. On the day named the railroad company intervened for its interest, and showed cause against the appropriation, and averred in its intervention that the value of the property to be appropriated was $12,000, and that this was the proper measure of the compensation and damages it was entitled to if the...