Washington Cemetery v. Prospect Park & Coney Island Railroad

It is necessary, in determining the rights of the parties in this

This principle was decided in The People v. Kerr, 27 N. Y. 188 , which sustained an act of the legislature authorizing certain individuals to construct and operate a horse railway upon and through certain streets in the city of New York,, the fee of which had been acquired and was vested in the corporation for public use under the statute of 1813. The question then recurs whether the act of 1873, by express language or necessary implication, authorized or required the fee of the lands over which the avenue was laid to be taken. It was for the legislature tó determine what estate or interest should be taken in the lands required for the avenue. The construction of an avenue leading to a great city was likely to involve a permanent use of the land appropriated; and it might be proper, as it certainly would be competent, for the legislature to declare that the fee should be taken on providing just compensation to the owner (Heyward v. The Mayor, 7 N. Y. 314 ).

But in construing the act of 1873, we are to bear in mind that the State, when taking property for public use, has a right to prescribe the extent of its interference with private property and acts independently and without the consent of the owner, and no implication ought to be indulged that a greater interest or estate is taken than is absolutely necessary to satisfy

It is a cardinal rule that every statute in derogation of the right of property, or that takes away the estate of a citizen, is to be construed strictly (Sharp v. Spier, 4 Hill, 76 ). The statute of 1873 lays out and defines the line of the avenue and provides for the appointment of commissioners “ to estimate the value of the lands and premises required to be taken for said avenue, the damages to be sustained by any person interested therein by reason of such taking, and the benefits which will be derived by the owners of lands within the district of assessment from the opening of the av-enue” (Sec. 4). The expenses of laying out, opening and improving the avenue were to be assessed upon lands supposed to be benefited thereby within a district of assessment to be fixed by the commissioners (Sec. 3). There is no -provision in the act that a fee of the land over which the avenue was laid out should be taken, or vest in the State, or in the city of Brooklyn, or the county of Kings, or in either of the -towns through which it was laid. Nor are there any words of equivalent import. The land is taken for an avenue., and this purpose is fully satisfied by the taking of an easement in the land for the street or highway.

There is nothing inconsistent in the public use of the land for an avenue, and the retention by the landowners, of the fee subject to the easement.

It is not necessary that exact or technical language should be used in a statute for taking private property for public use in order to vest the fee in the public ; but it must clearly appear before this effect can he

This is not a case of that character. The general rule is that the public acquire an easement only in highways.

The purpose of the act of 1873 does not require that a fee should be taken in the lands for the avenue, and, applying the rule of construction in such cases, we must hold that the fee was not taken, but an easement only.. It is claimed that compensation for the fee is given under the provision directing the commissioners to award “the value of the lands” taken, and the damages sustained by owners by reason of such taking (Sec: 4). But we are of opinion that if this is the true construction of the statute, it would not justify the conclusion that the fee was taken. The value of the land where an easement only is taken, might well be regarded as only just compensation in a case where the use will probably be perpetual. Shaw, Ch. J., in Imlay v. Union Bank, 12 Met. 457 , says: “Where an easement is taken for a highway, the compensation is generally estimated in practice at the value of the land itself.” But we think the fair construction of the provision in the act of 1873, relating to compensation, is that the value of the lands are to be awarded, having reference to the extent of the right acquired by the public therein. The right of the defendant to construct its road on the avenue cannot be sustained on the ground that the fee of the lands was taken under the act

But another position is taken by the defendant, viz., that if the fee of the lands over which the avenue was laid was not taken, yet an easement was taken therein for two public and concurrent uses—a highway and a railroad. This position is not tenable. There is no expression of such a purpose in the act. The land is taken for the avenue and compensation is to be made for the lands required to be taken for “ said avenue.” Section 1 prescribes that its width shall be one hundred feet; “ the carriage-way thereof sixty feet, the sidewalks each ten feet, and court-yards ten feet in width on each side,” thus regulating the street in view of the ordinary uses of a street or highway. Section 9 directs the commissioners to cause the avenue, including the sidewalks, to be properly graded and the carriage-way to be formed and graveled so as to be put in a proper condition for travelling. The whole expense of the street and its improvement is to be paid by taxation of the adjoining lands, and the land-owners whose lands are taken for the avenue, if they have other lands liable to assessment for the improvement, are to be paid their awards by crediting them on the assessments, and if the awards exceed their assessments the balance only is to be paid in money (Secs. 5 and 13). The claim of the defendant on this branch of the case is, in substance, that it was the intention of the legislature to take the land for the use of its road, as well as for the highway and to lay out, improve, and grade the avenue at the cost of the adjacent land-owners, and then to permit the defendant to build its road thereon, subjecting it to no part of the expenses of the improvement, and to no burden whatever at any time, except the obligation imposed in ■ section 13 to keep the portion of the avenue between the tracks of

The act contains fourteen sections.

The last section declares the act to be a public act, and repeals inconsistent acts.

Section 13 was inserted near the close of the act. The subject of a railroad or the use of a street for the purpose of a railroad, is in no way referred to in the preceding sections. All the prior provisions as to taking the land, making compensation therefor, and improving and grading the avenue and assessing the expense thereof, plainly refer to the laying out and improving a street to be used as an ordinary highway. If the statute could be construed as intending to take the land for the use of a railroad, it would become a very serious question whether compensation in a constitutional sense was provided for the landowners. The experiment has, I think, never yet been tried in this State of taking land by right of eminent domain for the use of a railroad corporation, and paying for it in benefits to the other lands of the owners. But this question need not be now considered.

Section 13, in the light of principle and authority, is to be construed simply as a consent on the part of the legislature to the use of the avenue by the Gravesend and Coney Island Railroad Company for a railroad, but as conferring no power or authority to occupy the street for that purpose, without the consent of the proprietors of the soil, or until by proceedings under the general railroad act the land had been condemned to the use of the road, upon compensation made to the owners (Fletcher v. The Auburn and Syracuse R. R. Co., 25 Wend. 462 ; The Trustees, &c. v. Auburn and Roch. R. R. Co., 3 Hill, 567 ; Davis v. The Mayor, &c., 14 N. Y. 521 ; Williams v. N. Y. C. R. R. Co., 16 Id. 97; Wager v. Troy Union R. R. Co., 25

Rapallo, J., did not vote.

All. the other judges concurred.

Judgment affirmed.