Newark Aqueduct Board v. City of Passaic
Newark Aqueduct Board v. City of Passaic
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
On March 18th, 1889, the complainant exhibited its bill in chancery to restrain the defendants from constructing in the city of Passaic certain public sewers therein described, which, when in operation, would cast their contents into the Passaic river, and thereby, the bill alleged, would render noxious the water drawn by the complainant from the river for the use of the inhabitants of the city of Newark. On filing the bill the complainant obtained a rule, that the defendants show cause why a preliminary injunction to the effect stated should not forthwith issue, and, at its return, the city of Passaic presented its answer, with accompanying affidavits, which, inter alia, negatived the charge that the sewage to be emptied at Passaic would affect the water at the complainant’s intake. The rule to show cause was then discharged by the chancellor, upon two grounds — -first, that the com
We are not prepared to endorse the conclusion of the learned chancellor upon the first point, but upon the second, his conclusion seems to us well founded in fact and in the law, as repeatedly •announced by this court. Citizens Coach Co. v. Camden Horse R. R. Co., 2 Stew. Eq. 299; Stitt v. Hilton, Stew. Eq. 285; Delaware, Lackawanna and Western R. R. Co. v. Central Stock-Yard and Transit Co., 16 Stew. Eq. 605; Hagerty v. Lee, 18 Stew. Eq. 255.
The order discharging the rule should be affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I think it is entirely clear, from the acts of the legislature relating to the Newark Aqueduct Board, that the city had a grant from the state of a right in the waters of the Passaic beyond those rights inherent in riparian owners, to have the use of the waters of the Passaic for a water-supply for the city for domestic and other purposes.
I think, also, that in view of the fact that the health of the inhabitants of a city with a population of one hundred and eighty thousand inhabitants is involved in this controversy, the depositions make a clear case for the interposition of the court by a preliminary injunction. Eor these reasons, I vote to reverse the decree appealed from.
Eor affirmance — The Chief-Justice, Dixon, Garrison, Mague, Van Syckel, Cole, Smith, Whitaker — 8.
Eor reversal — Depue, Brown — 2.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Newark Aqueduct Board v. The City of Passaic
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- 1 case
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- Published