Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Gilmor
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Gilmor
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The appellees filed a bill of complaint in the Circuit Court for Howard County against the Baltimore and Ohio Bail-road Company, in which they prayed that the defendant be enjoined from permanently closing Elkridge crossing to public travel unless an undergrade crossing be constructed in
The defendant filed a demurrer to the whole bill, which the Court overruled and granted the injunction as prayed. From the order granting the injunction the defendant has appealed.
The bill alleged that the plaintiffs are bona fide residents, ■.taxpayers and business men of the village of Elkridge, in the First Election District of Howard County, and for a long time have been and still are engaged in professional and various business enterprises in that village on each side of the Washington and Baltimore turnpike road at and near where the Baltimore and Ohio Bailroad Company crosses said road at grade; that the Washington and Baltimore turnpike road is a public highway running through the village of Elkridge, and that it is its main thoroughfare, and has been since the year 1813, when the highway was first laid out by authority of the General Assembly of Maryland; that upon each side of this road are erected and located all the business houses, stores, post-office, freight yards, physicians’ offices and many of the private dwellings of Elkridge. It alleged that the Baltimore and Ohio Bailroad Company was incorporated by Chapter 123 of the Acts of 1826, and that by section 16 of the act of incorporation, it was provided that wherever, in the construction of the road, it should be necessary to cross or intersect any established road or way it should be the duty of the company to so construct its road across such established road or way as not to impede the passage or transportation of persons or property along the same. It further alleged that the Washington and Baltimore turnpike road was an established road or highway more than ten years before the incorporation of the defendant company, and that by the Act of 1833, Chapter 170, the railroad company and the turnpike company were authorized to and did make an
A diagram is here inserted which shows the location of the turnpike, the newly constructed State road, and the Elk-ridge crossing mentioned in the bill.
The Act of 1912, Chapter 373, provided that State Eoad No. .1, which was required to be built by the Act of 1906, should be built through the town of Elkridge, “upon the bed of the old Washington and Baltimore turnpike road and at the same grade as the said road is at present constructed.” By Chapter 50 of the Acts of 1914 the sum of $15,000 was appropriated to the State Eoads Commission “for the purpose of concreting through the village of Elkridge the old Baltimore and Washington turnpike, from curb to curb, through said village, beginning at the point where the Baltimore and Washington boulevard diverges from said turnpike to the westerly side of said village to the point where said boulevard again connects with said turnpike on the easterly side of the said village near the Patapsco Eiver, provided nothing herein shall prevent the closing of the grade crossing of the B. & O. Eailroad upon the establishment of the State Eoads Commission and said railroad of an under-grade crossing between Elkridge and the Viaduct Bridge.”
This new road which diverges from and connects with the turnpike road at the points mentioned in the Act, and which is called in the bill “a back road,” is shown upon the above diagram.
Erom the allegations of the bill and the Acts of Assembly referred to, the Court is called upon to deal with the following state of fads—first, that the plaintiffs are residents, taxpayers and business men of the village of Elkridge, with residences and places of business located on each side of a pub-
The complainants were not entitled to an injunction from the mere fact that the defendant had obstructed the highway. “The obstruction, of a highway is a common nuisance, and, being a wrong of a public nature, the remedy is by indictment; it is not in itself a ground of civil action by an individual, unless he has suffered from it some special and particular damage, different not merely in degree, but different in kind, from that experienced in common with other citizens.” Houck v. Wachter, 34 Md. 265; Crook v. Pitcher, 61 Md. 510; Schalt v. Nusbaum, 56 Md. 512; Bembe v. Anne Arundel Co., 94 Md. 327.
A motion was filed by the appellees to dismiss the appeal upon the ground that the transcript of the record was not transmitted to this Court within the time prescribed by Article 5, section 33 of the Code. The order from which the appeal was taken was passed on October 5, 1914, and the order for appeal was filed on October 17, 1914. The record was made and transmitted to this Court on January 17, 1914, within the period of three months from “the time of the appeal prayed.” As the appeal is from an order granting an injunction it is not within' the provisions of section 31, Article 5. That section applies to orders refusing “to grant an injunction according to the prayer of the bill or petition filed in the cause,” and on appeal taken as provided by that section “the transcript shall be made and transmitted to the Court of Appeals forthwith after the appeal prayed.” The motion to dismiss the appeal must, therefore, be denied. It follows that the order appealed from must be reversed and the bill dismissed.
Order reversed, and bill dismissed, the appellees to pay the costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY, A Body Corporate v. KATE A. GILMOR
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- tlquity: pleading; injunctions; allegations in bill; mere allegation'of irreperable injury, not sufficient. Appeals: Article 5, section 31 of Code; orders granting injunctions. The mere allegation of a complainant, in a bill for an injunction, that irreparable damage or mischief will ensue, is not sufficient. p. 617 To satisfy the conscience of the Court, the facts must be stated, to show that the apprehension of injury is well founded. p. 617 The obstruction of a highway is a common nuisance, and being a wrong of a public nature, the remedy is by indictment, and not by injunction, at the suit of private individuals, unless they have suffered from it some special and particular damages, different, not merely in degree, but in kind, from that experienced by other citizens. p. 617 The ground upon, which equity interposes by injunction, to prevent the destruction of a street or highway, is the irreparable injury to the complainant. p. 618 An allegation that the complainants apprehend an injury to their business, and that they will be compelled to take a circuitous route in driving to different parts of a town, is insufficient. p. 618 Section 31 of Article 5 of the Code, relating to appeals from orders refusing to grant an injunction, has no relation to appeals from orders granting injunctions. p. 618