N.Y. Bay R. Co. v. City of Newark

• Citation: 83 A. 962,82 N.J.L. 591
• Parties: NEW YORK BAY R. CO. v. CITY OF NEWARK.
• Decision Date: 20 June 1912
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

83 A. 962

82 N.J.L. 591

NEW YORK BAY R. CO.

v. CITY OF NEWARK.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

June 20, 1912.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error to Supreme Court.

Certiorari by the New York Bay Railroad Company against the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Newark and others to review an assessment. From a judgment affirming the assessment (80 N. J. Law, 146, 76 Atl. 327), the Railroad Company brings error. Reversed and assessment set aside.

An assessment for benefits for paving Rose avenue in the city of Newark was sustained by the Supreme Court as to a lot of land having a frontage of 75 feet on Rose avenue and a depth of 100 feet; said lot being a part of the right of way of the plaintiff in error not occupied by its tracks. The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the Supreme Court reported in SO N. J. Law, 146, 76 Atl. 327.

Vredenburgh, Wall & Carey, of Jersey City, for plaintiff in error.

Herbert Boggs, of Newark, for defendant in error.

GARRISON, J. In the case of United N. J. R. R. Co. v. Jersey City, 55 N. J. Law, 129, 26 Atl. 135, we held that, "where an authorized right of way has been acquired, over which a railroad has been constructed and is in good faith operated, which right of way is not devoted to another purpose, it is used for railroad purposes within the meaning of the statute considered, although it may not, for the time being, be wholly occupied by tracks or other railroad appliances."

The statute referred to was "an act for the taxation of railroad and canal property" (P. L. 1884, p. 142), and, while the matter directly adjudged was that the land in question was not subject to local assessment for taxation, the broader point decided was that the right of way of a railroad company, although at the time not wholly occupied by railroad appliances, was nevertheless and to its entire extent, in legal contemplation, "land used for railroad purposes."

This decision, which was reached not upon the circumstances of the particular case, but upon public considerations arising from the given state of facts, lays down the legal rule to be applied in all cases where such state of facts exists, and the matter for determination is the assessment of the right of way of a railroad company, and hence is equally applicable to assessments for local improvements with this practical difference, viz., that the determination that lands are used for railroad purposes which, in the case of general taxation, removes them altogether from local assessment, in the case of local improvements, permits such lands to be assessed to the extent of the actual benefit conferred upon them for their present use, i. e., for railroad purposes.

The practical effect therefore of the rule in question is to eliminate enhancement of the market value of the land included in a railroad right of way either as a ground for its assessment for local improvements or as a basis for the estimation of benefits. Morris & Essex R. R. Co. v. Jersey City, 36 N. J. Law, 56.

The sound reason upon which this rule rests is that land acquired under a legislative sanction that implies its permanent devotion to a public use cannot, without a violation of such public use, have a market for any other purpose, and hence, as such a violation will not be presumed, such land has, in legal contemplation, no market value to be enhanced. Of course, if such land is actually put to an alien use, the rule in question does not apply.

There is nothing, however, to prevent the land, while so devoted to its public use, from receiving from a public improvement actual benefit for such public use, and hence to the extent that such land is thus benefited the right of way of a railroad company may be assessed for such an improvement.

The rule, therefore, with respect to assessments for local improvements is that the right of way of a railroad company, being in legal contemplation land used for railroad purposes, cannot be assessed upon the basis either of the general or special enhancement of its market value, but only for actual benefit to such land for the public uses for which it was acquired.

...