The Binghamton Bridge

• Decision Date: 01 December 1865
• Citation: 70 U.S. 51,3 Wall. 51,18 L.Ed. 137
• Parties: THE BINGHAMTON BRIDGE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

70 U.S. 51

18 L.Ed. 137

3 Wall. 51

THE BINGHAMTON BRIDGE.

December Term, 1865

THE legislature of New York was desirous in early times to have turnpike communications from the Chenango River, in the interior of the States as the river approaches the Pennsylvania line, to the Hudson River at and below Newburgh, on that stream. Roads from the one river to the other by the routes contemplated had to cross the east branch of the Susquehanna, the east and west branches of the Delaware, and it was proposed also to make a bridge westward across the Chenango River itself. Accordingly, on the 6th of April, 1805, the legislature passed an act to establish a 'turnpike corporation,' as it was called, for these purposes. The act was a very long one—forty-two sections—and for the purpose of a subdivision of labor, created in fact some four or five corporations. Among them a company for the purpose of building, by subscription of capital, bridges over the west and east branches of the Delaware River, was incorporated by the name of 'The President and Directors of the Delaware Bridge Company.' The sections of the act relating to this company, fifteen in number, besides incorporating company in form, with the usual incidents, 'continual succession,' 'suing,' &c., gave it the right of purchasing, holding, and conveying any estate, real and personal, necessary to fulfil the end and intent of the corporation. They prescribed the mode of organizing the company, the kind of

bridge to be built, the places where toll-gates should be put, the amount of tolls to be taken after the judges of Delaware County should declare that the bridge was finished, the duty of care and superintendence of the bridge, and the penalty (forfeiture of charter) of neglect to repair or rebuild it if out of order or carried away; the punishment to be inflicted on any one who wilfully injured it, &c., &c.

Power was given to the directors to increase the stock of the company from time to time, after the original capital had been expended, as the exigency should in their judgment require, by assessments on the old shares, and to collect it, with a right of forfeiture of the old shares, if not paid, and shares in the corporation were made personal property.

The 31st section enacted:

'It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to erect any bridge, or establish any ferry across the said west and east branches of Delaware River, within two miles either above or below the bridges to be erected and maintained in pursuance of this act.' . . . 'Provided, nevertheless,' the act went on to say, 'that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any person, residing within two miles of the said bridges, from crossing the said river to or from his or her own house or land with his or her own boat or craft, without being subject to the payment of any toll.'

An additional—the 36th—section provided that, at the expiration of thirty years, the bridge should become the property of the people of this State.

So far as regards the Delaware Bridge Company.

A subsequent part of the same act—its 38th section incorporated another company—a single company—'The Susquehanna Bridge Company,' for the purpose of erecting a bridge across the Susquehanna, at what was then called Oquaga, and since Windsor; and also for erecting a bridge at Chenango Point, the now village of Binghamton.

This section enacts, among other things, that the persons named, their successors and assigns,

'Shall be and are hereby created a body politic, and by the

name of 'The Susquehanna Bridge Company,' their successors and assigns shall be and hereby are invested with all and singular the powers, rights, privileges, immunities, and advantages, and shall be subject to all the duties, regulations, restraints, and penalties which are contained in the foregoing incorporation of the Delaware Bridge Company; and all and singular the provisions, sections, and clauses thereof, not inconsistent with the particular provisions herein contained, shall be and hereby are fully extended to the president and directors of this incorporation.'

The charters of these bridge companies—inserted, as already mentioned, in the body of the act incorporating the road—were prefaced by this preamble.

'Whereas, the foregoing road incorporation cannot be sufficiently carried into effect, or the public convenience fully promoted, if durable and permanent bridges across the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers, and the east and west branches of Delaware River, at the several places of intersection of the said roads, are not at the same time erected and maintained. And whereas, by reason of the great expense necessarily to be incurred in erecting and maintaining such bridges, on account of the size and rapidity of those streams, and the extraordinary freshets and frequent obstructions happening in those rivers, to which such bridges will be exposed, and which will endanger their permanency and durability, and may call forth a frequent renewal of the whole capital required for rebuilding such bridges, and therefore require a power (not contained in the foregoing incorporations) of calling from the stockholders, from time to time, such sums as shall be required for upholding such bridges, and which equally forbid the policy incorporated in the foregoing incorporations, that said property shall revert to the State; and whereas it is suggested that it will be most expedient for the purposes aforesaid to make two separate and distinct bridge incorporations, with powers adequate to the accomplishment thereof in the best possible manner. Therefore,

'Section 23. Be it enacted,' &c.

On the 1st April, 1808, the Susquehanna and Chenango bridges not being yet built, another act was passed amendatory of the old one. It ran in substance thus:-

'Section 3. Be it enacted, That the incorporation of the Susquehanna Bridge Company shall hereafter be deemed and considered to exist for the sole purpose of erecting and maintaining a toll-bridge, under their said charter, across the Susquehanna River at Oquaga, under all its present provisions, except the limitation of its duration of thirty years, which said limitation shall be and hereby is repealed; and that the time within which it shall be built shall be and hereby is extended to four years from the passing of this act.

'Section 4. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of erecting and maintaining a toll-bridge across the Chenango River, at or near Chenango Point, the present stockholders of the Susquehanna Bridge Company, or such others as shall associate for that purpose, shall be and hereby are created a body corporate, in fact and in name, by the name and style of 'The Chenango Bridge Company,' and as such to have perpetual succession, under all the provisions, regulations, restrictions, clauses, and provisions¹ of the before-mentioned Susquehanna Bridge Company.'

Under this last section, several persons consociated themselves, in 1808, under the name of the Chenango Bridge Company, and built a toll-bridge at Chenango Point, about one hundred rods above the point at which that stream merges itself and is lost in the lorger and more important Susquehanna.

In 1805, when the first act was passed, Chenango Point had but two or three houses, was a small place every way; hard, comparatively, of access; and with a surrounding region sparsely populated. Matters were not much different in 1808 when the second one was passed. In the course of fifty years, the condition of things had changed. Population had increased. The New York and Erie and other railways ran near the place. Villages had sprung up around. In 1854, several persons, 'inhabitants of the village of Binghamton and its vicinity,' presented a petition to the legislature

of New York, praying for the passage of an act authorizing an additional bridge. Their petition set forth:

'That the said village, situated at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, has a population of about ten thousand persons. That it covers the point between the rivers, and extends to the opposite side of both. That since the construction of the New York and Erie Railroad, which crosses the Chenango River about one mile from the mouth, the village has rapidly extended up said river, on both sides, and has largely increased, particularly upon the westerly side.

'They represent that the depots of all the railroads are on the easterly side of the Chenango, above where it is proposed to place the new bridge; that the said railroad depots occasion much travel to and from them, to and from the westerly side of the Chenango River, and that those who would cross in the vicinity of said depots are compelled to go nearly one-half mile down the Chenango River, and up it again on the other side, to and from the depots, thus losing nearly one mile of travel upon every such occasion. That a large volume of travel constantly passes over said old Chenango bridge, so great that it is frequently blocked up, by waiting for some to pay toll and otherwise, to the hindrance of travellers and citizens, and especially upon public days and funeral occasions. That all the churches, except the Catholic, are situated, and the principal business streets are upon the easterly side of the Chenango, and that the new, and hereafter to be principal public cemetery is situated upon the westerly side of the Chenango, about one mile above the old bridge. That the river is subject to high freshets and ice floods, and that in case the present bridge across the Chenango should be carried away there would be no means but a railroad bridge, where travel is not permitted, of reaching said churches, nor the business street from the westerly side of the Chenango, or the cemetery from the easterly side, nor could numerous citizens who reside upon the westerly side of the Chenango reach their places of business. That by reason of the great amount of travel...