State ex rel. Sheets v. Union Depot Co.
State ex rel. Sheets v. Union Depot Co.
Opinion of the Court
We learn from -the record in this case that in August, 1872, the defendant in error was incorporated and organized as a Union Depot Company under the act of April 3, 1868 (65 O. L., 63), by the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway Company and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Company. About 1873 said.Depot Company became the owner in fee of the tract of land in the city of Columbus abutting on High street, upon which its union station and railroad are constructed. Prior to 1892 said station and railroad and the approaches thereto were at grade with High street adjacent to said property. About 1892 and 1893 the city of Columbus erected a viaduct on High street adjacent to said property and over the railroad tracks crossing said street,
“This agreement made this fifteenth day of July, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, between the Union Depot Company, as first party, and the Columbus Transfer Company, of Columbus, Ohio, as second party. '
“ Witnesseth that the first party demises and leases to the second party the exclusive privilege of - soliciting upon its premises the carrying of passengers and baggage from thé union station, the property of said first party; in consideration of this, in addition to the stipulations hereinafter named the said second party agrees to provide a sufficient number of omnibuses, carriages, coupes and baggage wagons, to adequately provide for the accommodation of the*384 traveling public, at all trains arriving, and at all hours of the day and night; the same to be kept and maintained in good order and condition. Said second party also agrees to make no greater charge for its services in carrying passengers and baggage than ■ is or may be provided for in the ordinances of the city of Columbus relating, thereto. The vehicles of •said second party are to occupy such space on the concourse as may be designated by the station officers, and its employes at all times and in all respects shall be subject to the regulation and control of said officers.
“To hold the same unto the second party as tenant at will of the first party, and for the rent or sum of six hundred dollars ($600.00) per annum to commence on the fifteenth day of July, A. D. 1899, and to be paid in monthly installments on the tenth day of the following month of each year during said tenancy.
“That said first party hereby reserves ,the right to terminate this agreement and the said tenancy, and to take possession of and re-enter upon said premises at any time hereafter, after having given to the second party, or left, upon said premises, sixty (60) days.’ notice, in writing, of. its intention so to do, -and requiring said party to quit and deliver up possession of said premises.
• “That said second party hereby agrees to become and continue to be the tenant at will of the first party, under the conditions hereof, to pay -said rent, as above provided, and to keep said premises in good order and condition, and to quit and deliver up possession of said premises to said first party upon the expiration of the time mentioned in any notice to quit, given as aforesaid; and that upon the expira*385 tion of such time, the said tenancy shall cease, and said first party shall have the right forthwith to reenter upon and occupy, said premises, without .any further „or other notice, proceeding or process whatsoever.
“The said second party hereby.agrees not to use or occupy said premises for any other purpose than is above specifically described and not to assign., or transfer this agreement, nor underlet said premises without the written consent of the first party being first obtained.
“In testimony whereof, the parties hereto have caused this agreement to he executed in duplicate as of date the day and year first above written.
“Union Depot Co., Columbus, Ohio.
. ‘ ‘ By James McCeea, President.
“ (Seal.)
‘'Attest: C. C. Coenee, Secretary.
£ ‘ Sealed and delivered in the presence of us:
“George W. Bright.
“E. F. Wood.
“The Columbus Transfer Co. (Seal.)
“By S. S. Rickley, (Seal.)
“Vice President.”
Thereafter in order to make said contract effective and for the purpose of regulating and prescribing the conduct and management of said union depot and the business thereof, said Depot Company adopted certain rules and regulations, among which were the following:
“First: The space in the concourse adjoining the covered walk, for a distance of two hundred feet west of the station, is to he occupied by the Columbus Transfer Company for receiving, delivering and awaiting 'passengers.
*386 '‘ Second: ' Other, public hacks and other public vehicles will not be permitted to stand on the concourse between High street and the station building,, except to deliver passengers or to receive passengers who shall have previously employed them, and then for the shortest possible time, occupying such space for that purpose as may be designated by the station officers. ’ ’
The single question here for our determination is, were the contract and rules above set forth such as the Union Depot Company might lawfully make and adopt? On the trial of this case in the circuit court, that court answered this in the affirmative, and found and so adjudged that said Depot Company had the right to adopt and enforce such rules and to make and perform said contract. It is to procure a reversal of this finding and judgment of the- circuit court that this proceeding in error is prosecuted.
"While- it is contended and stated by relator in his brief that the making of said contract and^the adoption of said rules by the Union Depot Company was and is , a misuse and abuse of its corporate powers because “it is an unlawful discrimination against the traveling public,” no such complaint is made in his petition, the averment there being, “that said defendant has- misused its corporate powers and franchises by adopting through its board of managers a rule and regulation discriminating in the manner in which said concourse is to be used in favor of said The Columbus Transfer Company and against all others engaged in the hack and transfer business,” and on the trial of this case in the circuit court, so far as appears from the record, no question was made, or evidence offered for the purpose of showing, that reasonable and equal facilities were
Of these the decisions in the first three states would seem to have been rested upon some constitutional or statutory provision of the particular state. In Cravens et al. v. Rodgers, 101 Mo., 247, the second clause of the syllabus is as follows: “The agreement to give the exclusive privilege is against public policy and the spirit of the state constitution (art. 12, sec. 23) which prohibits ‘discrimination in charges or facilities in transportation * * * between companies and individuals or in favor of either.’ ” In Montana Union Ry. Co. v. Langlois, 9 Mont., 419, the decision of the court seems to have been predicated in part at least, upon a similar constitutional provision of that state, against discrimination (art. 15, sec. 7, Const. of Montana).
The case of the Kalamazoo Hach & Bus Co. v. Sootsma, 84 Mich., 194, involved the construction or interpretation of a statute of that state (How. Stat., sec. 3355), requiring all railroad corporations to grant equal facilities for the transportation of passengers and freight to all persons, companies or corporations, and the decision in that case was rested upon the interpretation of this statute, although the judge in: delivering the opinion states therein, that independent of the statute and upon principle, the decision would have been the same. In this latter case the railroad company granted to the Kalamazoo Hack & Bus Company the exclusive use of a certain portion of its depot grounds most favorably located .for receiving and delivering passengers, and excluded therefrom all other hackmen, not even permitting them to occupy said space for the purpose of delivering passengers or of receiving passengers
In Old Colony Railroad Co. v. Tripp, supra, Allen, J., says in the opinion: “We have not been referred to any decision or dictum, in England or in •this country, that a common carrier of passengers
A comparatively recent case, and one involving the identical question involved in the present case, is that of Donovan v. Pennsylvania Co., 120 Fed. Rep., 215, decided by the circuit court of appeals of the seventh circuit in 1903, in which it would seem the court had before it most, or all, of the adjudicated cases bearing upon this question. The syllabus of that case is as follows :
“A ráilroad company is under no duty, as a common carrier, to permit hackmen to enter its stations for the purpose of soliciting business from its passengers, and therefore its granting of such right to one person or concern does not entitle others to equal privileges on the same terms.”
The following is from the opinion in that case by Baker, Circuit Judge: “Appellee has a contract with the Parmelee Transfer Company under which two agents of the transfer company are stationed
“The asserted right of the hackmen necessarily postulates a correlative duty on the part of the railroad company. The company owes the duty to all persons, without discrimination, to carry them on equal terms of service and compensation. As a common carrier of passengers, the company must provide facilities for the reception, carriage and discharge of its passengers, and must establish rates which are available equally to all who desire to become passengers. But the company does not owe to its passengers the duty to provide on its trains the opportunities for them to purchase newspapers, books, fruit, and the like, or to employ the services of a stenographer or of a barber, or to buy cab or*394 ■express tickets. Much less does it owe the duty to any one to permit him to pursue his vocation on the trains. And if not on the trains, then not in the station buildings.. The relation of carrier and passenger continues not merely on the train, but within the station at the end of the journey. The right of way on which the trains run, and the lands on which the depots are built, were obtained and are held for purposes of the same general character.
“The fact that the person who asserts the right to ■carry on his business for his own profit upon the trains or within the station buildings is himself a common carrier does not affect the question.”
In the case at bar it cannot be said that the Union Depot Company has granted to the Columbus 'Transfer Company the exclusive privilege of using or occupying its driveway or concourse, or the exclusive right to carry passengers and baggage to and from its station, but the license or privilege so granted is, as we have seen, subject to the right of all other persons or companies to use said driveway or concourse for the purpose of delivering passengers, or of receiving passengers who have previously employed them. The only exclusive privilege given the Transfer Company is the privilege of soliciting on the premises of said Depot Company the carrying of passengers and baggage. The Union Depot Company has, and may rightfully exercise, over its station' and depot grounds all the rights of an owner in possession except such as are inconsistent with the public use for which it holds its franchise. This court has said in Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railway Co. v. Bingham, Admx., 29 Ohio St., 370-371: “For all purposes not connected with the operation of its road, the right of
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.