Burns v. Jagmetty
Burns v. Jagmetty
Opinion of the Court
The prosecutor was convicted of a violation of the act of 1911, for the prevention of trespassing upon railroad trains and railroad property. Pamph. L. 1911, p. 659. He had boarded a car at Pleasantville; the car was crowded; he had no seat and when the conductor demanded fare the prosecutor refused to pay until provided with a seat; none could be provided; he remained on the car without paying fare, although he might have alighted at two regular stops. The railroad company was incorporated under the General Railroad law, but the custom seems to have been to collect fares on the ear as in the case of street railways. There was and is no claim that the prosecutor entered the car with the intention of traveling without paying fare. There was, no proof of any rule of the company that he violated.
The title of the act of 1911 does not point to cases of passengers whose original entry upon the property of the company was lawful. It points only to cases of trespass. That such was' in fact the meaning of the legislature seems clear from the language of the act itself. It groups persons on engines, passenger cars, freight cars, coal cars and other ears, with persons on railroads or railroad property. The act requires, in order to constitute at least some of the offences, that the defendant should be on the property (1) contrary to the rules of the corporation owning or operating the same, and (2) “with the intention of being in or upon, riding or traveling upon such engine or car or railroad property without paying fare or of committing Jareen}', violence, or destruction thereon, or of threatening, intimidating or assaulting travelers or other persons upon such engine or cars.” The various kinds of misconduct are such as might naturally be expected from trespassers; they are not such as might naturally be expected from passengers.
It is difficult for us to believe that the legislature meant the act to apply to a case where by custom a person pays no fare until he has proceeded some distance; such a person is indeed on the ear vúth the intention of traveling upon it, and he is there without paying fare, as all of us are who travel on
The more important suggestion is that suggested in the beginning. We must so construe the act, if we can, that it ■shall be constitutional. Unless it is limited to trespassers, its object is noi expressed in the title. Ho doubt the rules of all •companies do so limit the prohibition of entry upon, the railroad property. So far as they do, the act is sustainable. But if the act is construed to apply to passengers whose original ■entry is lawful, the object is not expressed in the title. The cases of State v. Overton and State v. Campbell, to which we •are referred, were indictments in which the right to eject passengers was sustained, hut it was not adjudged that the pas
The judgment must be reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.