In re St. Paul & N.P. Ry. Co. V State

Decision Date04 November 1885
Citation34 Minn. 227,25 N.W. 345
PartiesIN RE ST. PAUL & N.P. RY. CO. v STATE.
CourtMinnesota Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from an order of the district court, Hennepin county.

D. A. Secombe, for petitioner, St. Paul & N. P. Ry. Co.

W.J. Hahn, Atty. Gen. for the State.

VANDERBURGH, J.

This is an appeal from an order of the district court of Hennepin county appointing commissioners to appraise damages upon the petition of the respondent railway company in pursuance of Gen. St. 1878, c. 34, § 17.

1. Such order is a final order in a special proceeding and hence appealable. Among other things it determined that the lands proposed to be taken were required and necessary for the proposed improvement. The question so determined would not again arise or be considered in the course of any subsequent proceedings, but was determined once for all, and affected a substantial right. In re Jones, 28 N. W. Rep. 835.

2. Upon the merits, the first question arises upon the motion of the appellant, the state of Minnesota, to dismiss the petition on the ground that it was not made to appear that the public interests required the prosecution of the enterprise. The controversy grows out of the attempt by the company to appropriate certain lands belonging to the University of Minnesota, situated on the line of the proposed route of the road. The only lands, however, included in the petition which appear to belong to the university are certain lots in Regents' addition to Minneapolis. These lots are not used or held for public purposes by the state, and are not contiguous to the university grounds, and are liable to be appropriated in the same manner as lands of private persons. Gen. St. 1878, c. 34, § 15.

No good reason, therefore, appears why they might not be taken for public use by the railway company if reasonably necessary therefor. And the necessityor propriety of appropriating these particular lots does not seem to be questioned, if the enterprise is to proceed. The court, it appears, upon the hearing of the petition, was satisfied that the public interests required the prosecution of the enterprise, and we think there was a sufficient prima facie case made to sustain such determination. The court was entitled to consider the nature of the enterprise as disclosed by the record, the location, termini, and extent of the line, as well as the evidence before it of the expenditures and improvements already made, and the facilities for business possessed by the company. It would also take judicial notice of things generally known to the public, such as the general development of commercial interests and the increase of trade and travel, in determining the question of the propriety or importance of extending the proposed line of road. It is unnecessary, therefore, for us to discuss or determine in this case the point raised by the respondents' counsel in argument whether the legislature have in fact delegated, or could delegate, to the courts the power to determine in what cases the right of eminent domain may be exercised by a railway corporation, organized under and in pursuance of chapter 34, tit. 1, Gen. St., with the powers thereby granted; in other words, to determine...

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46 cases
  • McLean v. District Court of Eighth Judicial District
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • August 19, 1913
    ... ... to legislative control," and when a railroad is ... organized under the laws of the state as a railroad ... corporation and for public use, such railroad is governed by ... the ... an appeal lies. ( In re St. Paul & N. P. Ry. Co., 34 ... Minn. 227, 25 N.W. 345; State ex rel. C. & N.W. Ry. Co ... v. Oshkosh ... ...
  • Washington Water Power Co. v. Waters
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    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • March 28, 1911
    ... ... is hereby declared to be a public use, and ... subject to the regulation and control of the state" ... 2. The ... constitution, sec. 14, art. 1, conferring the right of ... eminent ... R. A. 467; ... Kountze v. Prop. Morris Aqueduct, 58 N.J.L. 303, 33 ... A. 252; In re St. Paul etc. Ry. Co., 34 Minn. 227, ... 25 N.W. 345; Spring Valley Water Works v ... Drinkhouse, 92 ... ...
  • The Great Western Natural Gas And Oil Co. v. Hawkins
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    ...17 W. Va. 812; Wheeling & B. Bridge Co. v. Wheeling Bridge Co., 138 U. S. 287, 11 Sup. Ct. 301, 34 L. Ed. 967. See In re St. Paul, etc., Ry. Co., 34 Minn. 227, 25 N. W. 345;In re Split Rock Cable Road Co. (Sup.) 12 N. Y. Supp. 116;Cincinnati, etc., R. Co. v. Bay City, etc., R. Co. (Mich.) 6......
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