Clifton Springs Distilling Co. v. State
Clifton Springs Distilling Co. v. State
Opinion of the Court
The statement of the case, the claims under the petition, the position assumed by the Distilling Company in its answer, and the claims of the City of Cincinnati in its petition, are correctly and fully set forth in the agreed statement of facts, which is incorporated in the bill of exceptions as follows:
“agreed statement of facts.
“In the petition plaintiff claimed from the defendant $1,361.33 for the use of part of the canal system of the State of Ohio by the defendant for carrying goods and merchandise in Canal Boats from October 1, 1912, to August 31, 1917, at the rate of 15 cents per mile, so traveled by the Canal boats as used by the defendant.
“The defendant filed an answer admitting the amount claimed and stating that without collusion with it, the City of Cincinnati claimed said sum and had notified said defendant not to pay the same. The City’s claim arose under a lease of said Canal from the State of Ohio under certain Acts of the Legislature. The defendant, The Clifton Springs Distilling Company, was permitted to pay the above sum of money into Court under its claim of interpleader. Whereupon the City of Cincinnati was made a party defendant and filed its answer. The State of Ohio then filed a reply. The question for decision is which of these two is entitled to the above fund now in the hands of the Clerk of this Court. The agreed facts are as follows:
“The City of Cincinnati never entered upon, improved or occupied as a public street or boulevard, or for sewerage, conduit or for any other purpose, or purposes, all or any part of the Miami and Erie Canal described in the leases to the defendant, or in any Acts of the General Assembly under which said leases were made. No plans and specifications were ever drawn or approved by the State Engineer for a convenient outlet for the discharge of the water of the said Miami and Erie Canal at a point 300 feet north of Mitchell Avenue, or at any other point so as not to obstruct the flow of water through the remaining part of the Canal, or so as not to destroy or injure the present supply of water for mechanical or commercial purposes. No bond in any amount has been prescribed by the State Board of Public Works or approved by the Attorney General of Ohio for the faithful performance of said work or given by the City of Cincia
“The State of Ohio for many years prior to 'May 15, 1911, and continuously ever since, has been in possession of all that portion of the Miami Canal described in all the foregoing Acts, and of the property described in the .leases attached to the answer of the defendant, The City of Cincinnati, using said Canal as a navigable stream, flowing the waters through said portion of the Canal for navigation and public purposes and that such por
It will be seen that the claim of the city of Cincinnati is based largely upon the construction of the lease executed and delivered to it by the governor of the state of Ohio on the 29th day of August, 1912, which lease dated from the first day of October, 1912, for the term of 99 years, renewable forever, and was executed under the authority of an act of the general assembly of Ohio, found in 102 Ohio Laws, 168-171, entitled “An Act to provide for leasing a part of the Miami and Erie canal to the city of Cincinnati as a public street or boulevard, and for sewerage and subway purposes.”
The plaintiff in error, city of Cincinnati, bases its strongest argument for its rights in the matter
In the case of Roseberry v. Hollister, 4 Ohio St., 297, the court say at page 308:
“The state can only act by its agents, duly authorized by law; and where such agents, being mere ministerial officers, transcend their authority, their acts are void, or at least voidable by the state.”
Again in the case of State, ex rel., v. The Cincinnati Central Ry. Co., 37 Ohio St., 157, the court say at page 178:
“It is for the legislature, and not its subordinate agents, * * * to authorize such additional public use and to confer such authority.”
Without determining whether or not the lease contains any power or authority not contemplated by the act, it is clear that if it does it would be but a transcending of authority on the part of the state’s agents, and would be without effect in so far as it exceeded the authority granted by the act. The act, under which the lease was made, is as follows;
“An Act
“To provide for leasing a part of the Miami and Erie canal to the city of Cincinnati as a public street or boulevard, and for sewerage and subway purposes.
“Section 1. Permission shall be given to the city of Cincinnati, in the manner hereinafter provided, to enter upon, improve and occupy forever, •as a public street or boulevard, and for sewerage, conduit and if desired for subway purposes, all of that part of the Miami and Erie canal which extends from a point three hundred feet north of 'Mitchell avenue to the east side of Broadway in •said city, including the width thereof, as owned or held by the state, but such permission shall be granted subject to all outstanding rights or claims, if any, with which it may conflict, and upon the further terms and conditions of this act.
“Section 2. Such permission shall be granted upon the further condition that said city, in the uses aforesaid of all or any portion herein mentioned of such canal, shall construct or cause to be constructed suitable and sufficient works for a convenient outlet for the discharge of the water of said canal, at a point three hundred feet north of Mitchell avenue, so as not to obstruct the flow of water through the remaining part of such canal, nor destroy nor injure the present supply of water for mechanical or commercial purposes. Such outlet shall be constructed in accordance with plans and specifications to be drawn or approved by the state engineer, and the city of Cincinnati shall give bond in such sum as shall be prescribed by the state board of public works, to be approved by the attorney general for the faithful performance of the work.
“Section 3. Upon the passage of this act the governor shall appoint three (3) arbitrators, none of whom shall be residents of Hamilton county, who shall, whenever the council of said city decided that such canal be used for all the purposes mentioned in section one (1) hereof, proceed to act as provided in section four (4) of this act.
“Section 4. The arbitrators thus selected shall constitute a board of arbitration whose duty it shall be, without reasonable delay, to ascertain and fix the actual value of the property of the state
“Section 5. Upon approval by resolution of the council of said city of the amount of such valuation as fixed by such board of arbitration or a majority of them, and upon the governor being satisfied that the interests of the state are fully protected and that the valuation placed upon .such
“In case the state of Ohio shall at any time build a canal of not less than nine-foot gauge from Lake Erie to the Ohio river at Cincinnati, the city of Cincinnati sháll reimburse the state for tbe amount of its expenditure in procuring right of way either by purchase or condemnation, or both, for said canal, from a point three hundred feet north of
“Section 6. The surface of such street or boulevard when completed shall not be occupied or used for the purpose of any street, steam, electric, elevated or other kind of railroad whatsoever, nor shall any rights by way of appropriation be exercised or permitted as against such property; but nothing herein shall prevent the construction by said city or its grantee, of a subway beneath such 'street or boulevard, for use of a street, electric, suburban or interurban railway; provided, however, that the right to construct such subway or to use the same when constructed for any street, electric, suburban or interurban railway thereunder, shall never be granted or permitted to any person, persons or corporation other than said city, except on terms that shall provide for competitive bidding for the right to construct or use the same as aforesaid and on terms that shall secure to street, electric, suburban, interurban or underground electric railways the right to use the subway, all tracks, appliances, services and electric current in and incident thereto, on equal and proportionate terms, said terms to be determined on the basis of the total cost of operation and a reasonable return on the investment; provided further, that any street, electric, suburban or interurban railway using such subway shall permit the use of its tracks by any other electric, suburban or interurban railway for a reasonable compensation for such distance as is necessary to secure entrance to such subway, and provided further that should a gauge other than standard gauge be established for the tracks of
“Any grant or franchise made to any person, firm or corporation to construct or operate a subway under the property mentioned in section one hereof, shall be subject to all the provisions of sections 9147, 9148 and 9149 of the general code relating to underground railroads.
“Section 7. All laws and parts of laws inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.
“Section 8. If any section or portion of this act shall for any reason be declared to be unconstitutional, such invalidity shall not affect any other section or portion hereof.”
Section 1 of the act provides that permission shall be given to the city of Cincinnati in the manner hereinafter provided to enter upon, improve and occupy forever, as a public street or boulevard, and for sewerage, conduit, and, if so desired, for subway purposes, that section of the canal described in the act and in the lease itself. Section 1 further provides that such permission shall be granted subject to all outstanding rights or claims, if any, with which it may conflict, and upon the further terms and conditions of the act.
A careful reading of the act shows clearly that some of its provisions look to the rights and interests of the state, such as the saving of the revenues, and the flow of the water from above the section leased through the sewers or outlet to be provided for by the city. None of these reservations or conditions contemplates the future use by the state of that part of the canal leased for the
Section 2 of the act provides:
“Section 2. Such permission shall be granted upon the further condition that said city, in the uses aforesaid of all or any portion herein mentioned of such canal, shall construct or cause to be constructed suitable and sufficient works for a convenient outlet for the discharge of the water of said canal, at a point three hundred feet north of Mitchell avenue, so as not to obstruct the flow of water through the remaining part of such canal, nor destroy nor injure the present supply of water for mechanical or commercial purposes. Such outlet shall be constructed in accordance with plans and specifications to be drawn or approved by the state engineer, and the city of Cincinnati shall give bond in such sum as shall be prescribed by the state board of public works, to be approved by the attorney general for the faithful performance of the work.
“And such permission shall be granted upon the further condition that said city shall adopt and construct appropriate works for the purpose of supplying water to the lessee users of said water
The only right granted to the city under the act and the lease executed by the governor pursuant thereto was an easement, the 'fee title to the lands remaining in the state, subject only to the use by the city for the purposes named in the act. The grant was a right to occupy and improve as a public street or boulevard, and for sewerage, conduit and subway purposes, the section of the canal described, the fee remaining in the state. No other state’s right or interest was granted or intended to be granted than that just recited.
In the case of State, ex rel., v. The P., C., C. & St. L. Ry. Co., 53 Ohio St., 189, the fourth proposition of the syllabus is as follows:
It is true that in the case of The Little Miami Elevator Co. v. City of Cincinnati, 30 Ohio St., 629, the court held that the permission granted to the city to enter upon, improve and occupy forever as a public highway and for sewerage purposes was an abandonment of that part of the canal as a canal, and that such improvement and new use of it by the city rendered impossible any future use of .it as a canal, and that if any future use was reserved such reservation would be inconsistent with the grant. It will be noted that the proposition there was that the improvement and new use were inconsistent with the grant, and the fifth proposition of the syllabus of that case holds:
“This grant and the construction by the city of an avenue and sewer along the line of the land, upon a plan of improvement, approved by the 'board of public works, in such manner that the canal could no longer be used for purposes of navigation, was an abandonment of it by the state for the public uses for which it was held.”
The grant alone does not constitute an abandonment of the section of the canal granted. There must be the construction by the city of the improvements contemplated by the act, and, until said improvements are constructed, there is noth
In the case of State of Ohio v. George, Trustee, et al., 34 Ohio St., 657, the court say in the first paragraph of the syllabus:
“The execution and delivery of the bond required by the act of April 6, 1876 (73 Ohio L. 275), and the supplementary act of April 24, 1877 (74 Ohio L. 466), are conditions precedent to the right to exercise the powers which said act were designed to confer.”
That was a grant to the city of Hamilton to fill up the canal basin, and the act required the execution of a bond, and the court held, as above stated, that the execution and delivery of the bond was a ■condition precedent to the right to exercise the powers conferred. In that case the act did not in terms provide that the deposit of the bond with the governor should precede the exercise by the city of the authority to fill up the basin. The court ■held that the deposit of the bond as a condition precedent was intended by the act.
In the instant case the act provides that such permission should be granted upon certain conditions, to-wit: the construction of the outlet for the discharge of the water from above, approval
The authorities are uniform that both the execution of the grant and the construction of the improvement by the city must take place before the abandonment is complete. We therefore hold that the city acquired no right to rentals for navigation, having failed to perform the conditions precedent required under Section 2 of the act; that the use by the state as a highway for navigation purposes, until the improvement is made by the city, is not inconsistent with the grant; and that the state of Ohio is entitled to the money in question.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
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- The Clifton Springs Distilling Co. v. The State of Ohio
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