Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. v. Chicago & Evanston Railroad

Citations

• 112 Ill. 589

Syllabus

<p>, 1. ¡Railroad charter—construed—as to right to enter a city. A grant of power in a railroad charter “to locate, construct and maintain, and operate with horse or locomotive cars, from the city of Chicago to any point in the town of Evanston, a railroad,” etc., without any express or implied restrictions, will authorize the grantee, so far as the State is concerned, to lócate its tracks and fix its Chicago terminus at any point in the city, as “Chicago,” simply, includes every part of Chicago.</p> <p>2. Eminent domain—;jurisdiction of Superior Court of Cook county— in proceeding for condemnation. The Superior Court of Cook county being in law a circuit court, it follows that where a special statutory jurisdiction is conferred on the circuit court, the Superior Court will, by the same act, though not named, acquire a like jurisdiction, and vice versa. The Superior Court therefore has jurisdiction in applications for the condemnation of land under the Eminent Domain act.</p> <p>3. Same—of the right to have condemnation—and how the right may be questioned. The fact that a railway company has been organized under a valid charter, and is shown to have done corporate acts under it, is sufficient to establish a prima facie right to take private property under the Eminent Domain act. And this prima facie right can not properly be questioned in a collateral proceeding. That must be done by quo warranto.</p> <p>4. Same—taking property already devoted to public use—and whether there is a change of use so as to justify the taking. In the absence of a clearly expressed intention to the contrary, the courts will not so construe a railway charter as to authorize one company to take the property of another already devoted to a particular public use, for the purpose of applying it to the same use. When there is no change in the use, it becomes a matter of mere private concern, without at all affecting the public interests. This rule applies only when the taking would result simpl