First Div. St. P. & P. R. R. Co. v. City of St. Paul

• Decision Date: 14 May 1875
• Citation: 21 Minn. 526
• Parties: FIRST DIVISION OF THE ST. PAUL & PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY <I>vs.</I> CITY OF ST. PAUL.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

21 Minn. 526

FIRST DIVISION OF THE ST. PAUL & PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY vs. CITY OF ST. PAUL.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

May 14, 1875.

The land involved in this case, which is situate in the city of St. Paul, was assessed by the proper municipal authorities for benefits conferred upon it by the grading of

Rosabel street in that city, and the usual proceedings were instituted by the city, in the court of common pleas for Ramsey county, to obtain a judgment against the land for the amount of the assessment. The First Division of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. appeared in court, claiming that it was the owner of the land, that it occupied and used the same for the purposes of its railroad, that the land formed no part of the company's land grant, that the company had paid into the state treasury all sums required by law in lieu of taxes and assessments, and that the land was therefore exempt from all taxes and assessments whatsoever, including the assessment then sought to be enforced against it. At the trial, before Hall, J., the company proved its corporate existence, its ownership and operation of the railroad authorized by its charter and all the other facts alleged by it as the grounds of its objection to the assessment. The court, however, decided that the land was not exempt, and ordered judgment against the land for the amount of the assessment, to which ruling the company duly excepted. A bill of exceptions was allowed, and judgment having been entered in accordance with the order of the court, the company removed the case to this court by certiorari.

Bigelow, Flandrau & Clark, for plaintiff in error.

W. A. Gorman and H. J. Horn, for defendant in error.

GILFILLAN, C. J.

The charter under which this company holds its franchises and property, by § 18, provides: "In consideration of the grants, privileges and franchises herein conferred on the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, the said company shall and will, on or before the first day of March in each year, pay into the treasury of the territory or future state three per centum of the gross earnings of the said railroad for the year ending on the last day of the preceding December, in lieu of all taxes and assessments whatever. * * * The first payment shall be made on the first day of March next after fifty miles of said railroad shall be completed, and such payment shall be in lieu of all taxes, and in full of all claims of the territory or state for the grant hereby made; and in consideration of such annual payments, the said company shall be forever exempt from all assessments and taxes whatever by the territory, or state which shall succeed the territory, or by any county, city, town, village, or other municipal authority in the territory or state, upon all stock in the said Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, whether belonging to said company or to individuals, and upon all its franchises or estate, real, personal, or mixed, held by said company; and said land granted by said act of Congress, hereby authorized to be conveyed to the said Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, shall be exempt from all taxation...