Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Payne
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Payne
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellee executed to the appellant the following deed: “In consideration of the sum of one dollar to me in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, and of the benefits that will accrue-to me by the reason of the construction of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad through my lands, I hereby bargain, sell, convey, and warrant to the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. Co., its successors and assigns, the following described lands and property, situated in Yazoo county, state of Miss., to-wit: A strip of land in sections 20, 28, 29: 33, and 34, township 13 north, range 2 west, 11,550 feet in length, more or less, and more fully described as follows: 150 feet in width (being 75 feet on each side of the located line of
This is a bill filed by the appellee’against the appellant, based upon this deed, in which appellee, the complainant, sets out, first, that the true consideration for the said deed was, not only ditching and draining and maintenance of farm crossings, but also the erection of a depot on his farm and the removal of a cabin, which the company had refused to move, and the erection and maintenance of cattle guards. He further avers in his bill that his land was well ditched and thoroughly drained when this deed was made, but that the railroad company, in constructing its railroad over his- land, threw up a fill and a dump that cut off the passage of the water through the ditches, and that the railroad company had left borrow pits unopened, preventing the flow of the water to its natural channels, thus baching the overflow waters on his plantations and rendering a large number of acres valueless for farm purposes; and he further m ers that by reason of this overflow and the standing of stag
To this bill the railroad company interposed the following-demurrers: First. A general demurrer, alleging (1) want of equity; (2) vagueness, uncertainty, and contradictoriness in. allegation; (3) no reason for construing the deed; (d) no-ground for reformation shown; (5) no ground for specific performance; (6) no ground shown for rescission; (7) failure to’ show that defendant had created any nuisance; (8) no ground' for recovery of compensatory damages; (9) none for the recovery of punitive damages. '.Second. The railroad company interposed various special demurrers. The first special demurrer-proceeded upon the ground that there was no need for construction of the deed, and the second that the bill showed no ground' for the specific performance and that the remedy was complete and adequate at law. The third special demurrer proceeded: upon the ground that there were no allegations warranting reformation of the deed. The fourth special demurrer proceeded' upon the ground that the bill showed no nuisance. The fifth special demurrer was that there were no allegations to support &
• Since the chancery court sustained the special demurrer to those allegations in the bill seeking for a reformation of the deed, and since there is no appeal from the decree on that special demurrer, there is nothing before us to consider with respect to the prayer for a reformation. The chancery court declined to reform the deed by inserting these other agreements set up by parol. The idea of the chancery court seems, to have been that the appellee was entitled to have a specific performance of the agreement contained in the deed to ditch and drain the land and maintain crossings, but nothing else. The chief point presented by the bill is whether or not the appellee was entitled to a decree for specific performance. .We do not think he was. It is not a case for specific performance. The remedy of the complainant was complete and adequate at law, so far as the erection and maintenance of proper farm crossings and of suitable cattle guards were concerned, and his remedy was also complete and adequate at law with respect to any damages which he might have sustained by the overflowing of his lands and the obstruction of his ditches and drains and the losses he
The brief of the learned counsel for the appellee contains a a number of cases illustrating the exercise of the jurisdiction of equity to decree' the specific performance of contracts, and, amongst other authorities cited, is 26 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law (2d ed.), p. 95, in which an exception is noted in favor of the exercise of this jurisdiction, but in which, also, the ground on which that exception stands is clearly stated as follows: “This departure from the general rule is particularly noticeable in contracts with reference to the operation of railroads, etc. This exception to the general doctrine has been said to be founded upon the rights of the public, rather than those of the plaintiff; the theory being that, when the inconvenience of the courts in acting is more than counterbalanced by the inconvenience of the public if they did not act, the interest of the public will prevail.” It must bé obvious that the reason for this exception has no application to this litigation between a private citizen and a railroad company. The reasons are well understood why the great common carriers of the country may, by decree of the chancery court, be compelled specifically to perform contracts,, even though sometimes intricate and complicated and requiring long superintendence on the part of the court. Those reasons have no application to this sort of suit. The case of Hooper v. Savannah, etc., R. R. Co., 69 Ala., 529, chiefly relied upon by learned counsel for appellee is not in point. There was no deed outright there of the city lots to the railroad company. Brickell, C. J., at page 539, says as follows: “The contract did not pass a legal title; on the contrary, the legal title was retained by the appellants as a security for the performance by the company of the stiuplations it agreed to perform, as the consideration for the lands. Its title was, at most,
The case of Alabama, etc., R. R. Co. v. Prouty (Ala.), 43 South., 352, is wholly unlike this case on its facts. The water-descending from the mountain, near Lookout Mountain, was obstructed in its flow, so as to be made to back up over the land of the plaintiff, overflow her springs, and cause her great damage ; and it was averred that the injuries were permanent, continuous and constantly occurring. The bill was specifically and alone in that case to abate this continuing nuisance-, and incidentally to recover damages. It must be obvious that such P not the case made by this bill at all. Indeed, there is no prayer in this bill for the abatement of the alleged nuisance. The allegations with respect to the stagnant water, etc., seem rather to-be thrown in as a makeweight to aggravate the damages resulting from the overflow of' the land, for the recovery of damages for which there was a plain and adequate remedy at law. The bill in this case, whilst it alleges that these stagnant waters were
We are of the opinion that this case is controlled by the case of Bomer Bros. v. Canaday, 79 Miss., 222, 30 South., 638, 55 L. R. A. 328, 89 Am. St. Rep., 593. It is not at all the proper thing for the chancery court to decree a specific performance of the common covenants of husbandry, and that is practically what this bill in its main aspects seeks to have done. If the chancery court should enter a decree to specifically enforce this contract as alleged in the bill, embracing not only the agreements named in the deed, but also the parol agreements set up in the bill, the superintendance of the chancery court would be taxed beyond any reasonable limit warranted by any decision with which we are familiar. The learned counsel for appellee is mistaken in saying that the bill does not pray for reformation or rescission. Both are specifically prayed for in certain contingencies.
On the whole case, we think that the appellee’s cause of action is one which should have been brought at law, and not one which, taking the bill as a whole, and looking to its real purpose and object, can be maintained in a court of equity. The statute expressly provides for damages for the failure to construct and maintain farm crossings and suitable cattle guards, and, without any deed complainant could have recovered all the damages sustained by the overflowing of his land in an action at law, and these things constitute, in effect, the gravamen of the bill. As stated, the allegations with respect to nuisance are merely makeweights thrown in, and all the other allegations with respect to the depot, the cabin, etc., tend only to increase the dif
On the cross-appeal, we affirm the decree of the court below. On the direct appeal, the decree of the court below overruling the general demurrer is reversed, the demurrer sustained, and the cause remanded. As we reverse the decree on the direct appeal, on the general demurrer, we do not deem it necessary to make special comment as to the special demurrers which were overruled. The sustaining of the general demurrer disposes of the case as at present presented.
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company v. Matthew R. Payne
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Equity. Specific performance. Remedy at law. Province of the court. Ditching farms. Constructing farm crossings over railroad traelts. A court of equity will not specifically enforce a contract obligating a railroad, company to perfectly drain a farm through which its line extends and provide whatever farm crossings may be needed by the owner; the remedy at law for the breach of the contract being adequate and the superintendence of draining farms and constructing farm crossings over railroad tracks not being within the province of the court.