Cleveland Railway Co. v. City of Cleveland

Citations

• 97 Ohio St. (N.S.) 122

Syllabus

<p>Street railways — Franchise contract — interpretation favoring public — •Terins and provisions — \Repaving” and \repairing” distinguished — Pavement between tracks — Street improvement — ■Words and phrases.</p> <p>1. The Constitution of Ohio provides that all private property shall be “subservient to the public welfare.” By virtue thereof, where a private person or corporation enters into a contract with the public and such contract is of doubtful or uncertain meaning as to any of its provisions, that construction should be adopted that is most favorable and advantageous to the public interest and general welfare.</p> <p>2. Where a franchise contract uses words and phrases of common and ordinary use and meaning in street improvement, such use and meaning will be adopted by courts in the construction of such contract.</p> <p>3. The word “repair” in reference to a pavement is inherently local and more or less temporary. It is usually made necessary by some local disturbance or defect in the pavement and it is none the less “repair” because new material must be used in order to effect such “repair.”</p> <p>4. The word “repave” in reference to a street improvement has an equally well defined customary usage and meaning and relates generally to a new pavement, either of the same or different material, for the full width of the street theretofore similarly improved, or for some defined section thereof.</p>