Metropolitan R. Co. v. Highland S. R. Co.

• Decision Date: 06 September 1875
• Citation: 118 Mass. 290
• Parties: Metropolitan Railroad Company v. Highland Street Railway Company
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

118 Mass. 290

Metropolitan Railroad Company v. Highland Street Railway Company

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

September 6, 1875

[Syllabus Material]

Suffolk. Petition to the board of railroad commissioners under the St. of 1871, c. 381, to determine the compensation to be paid to the petitioner for the use of its tracks by the respondent. The commissioners heard the parties, and made and returned to this court an award, which, after stating the facts of the case, the substance of which appears in the opinion of the court, stated that the award was made upon the following principles:

"The route through which a corporation can operate a street railway and receive and retain profits for the carriage of passengers in its cars is coextensive with the limits specified in its act of incorporation.

"Where different routes or parts of routes are specified in the respective charters, such routes or parts of routes appertain exclusively to that company in whose charter alone they are specified.

"Where the same route or part of a route is specified for two or more companies, that route is the common property of all such companies, and no one of them has an exclusive right to its use, or to the profits on the carriage of passengers within to or from the streets included in it.

"The granting of a franchise to operate a street railway within defined limits is a matter which rests exclusively in legislative discretion; a prior charter in no way excludes the granting of a subsequent charter including the same route or any part of it.

"The right of a street railway company to enter upon and use the tracks of another company, which tracks are situated within the franchise limits of the entering company, conveys to such entering company rights and privileges wholly different from those conveyed by a similar power in cases where the tracks entered upon are without or beyond such franchise limits.

"The tracks of the Metropolitan Railroad Company, entered upon and used by the Highland Street Railway Company, all lie within the franchise limits of the latter company; in such case the compensation to be awarded for such entry and use must be arrived at by ascertaining the entire expense of the maintenance of the track in question, including a fair interest on its original cost, and dividing such expense between the companies, in proportion to the use of such track, made by each.

"The Metropolitan Railroad Company, though the prior company, having no exclusive right in such routes or parts of routes as are included in the franchises of both companies, is not entitled to receive any compensation for division of business, or diversion of profits, consequent upon the operation of the Highland Street Railway Company within such routes or parts of routes.

"In case of the overcrowding of tracks by the cars of companies having a legal right to enter upon and use such tracks, as being within the chartered limits of such companies, no company whose business is injured by such overcrowding has any claim on account of such injury against the other companies equally entitled to the use of such tracks."

The award then stated the amount of compensation awarded, and concluded as follows:

"We further award, that the Highland Street Railway Company, as respects the period of entry upon and the use made of the Metropolitan Railroad Company's track, shall conform to the rules and regulations established in such respects by the lastnamed company, or by the board of aldermen of the city of Boston, and each company shall conduct business, in the enjoyment of its rights, so as to interfere as little as possible with the business of the other.

"The cost of maintaining switches, including wages of switchmen, at all points where the Highland Street Railway Company enters upon and leaves the Metropolitan tracks, shall be borne by the first-named company; on all other portions of the tracks used in common, it shall be borne by the Metropolitan Railroad Company, and is included in the general compensation awarded.

"The cost of removing snow and ice from the tracks used in common shall be borne by the Metropolitan Railroad Company, and is included in the general compensation awarded, except as regards that portion of the track located in Warren Street, between Dudley Street and Grove Hall, sections of which belong to each company; as regards this portion of track, it is awarded that the charge of removing ice and snow from all the track lying between Grove Hall and the north side of Lansing Street be borne exclusively by the Highland Street Railway Company, and the cost of removing ice and snow from all the track between the north side of Lansing Street and Dudley Street shall be borne exclusively by the Metropolitan Railroad Company.

"This award shall take effect and be binding from and after January 1, 1874."

The petitioner excepted to the report of the commissioners, and objected to its acceptance, because each of the principles stated by them was erroneous, and because they determined that the respondent under its charter and location had any other rights in the tracks of the petitioner than to enter upon and use them upon payment of...