Northern Pacific Railroad v. Smith

Citations

• 171 U.S. 260
• 18 S. Ct. 794
• 43 L. Ed. 157
• 1898 U.S. LEXIS 1602

Syllabus

<p>Neither the city of Bismarck, as owner of the town site, nor its grantee Smith, can, under the circumstances disclosed in this record, disturb the possession of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in its right of way extending two hundred feet on each side of its said road.</p> <p>The finding of the trial court, that only twenty-five feet in width has ever been occupied for railroad purposes, is immaterial.</p> <p>By granting a right of way four hundred feet in width, Congress must be understood to have conclusively determined that a strip of that width was necessary for a public work of such importance, and it was not competent for a court, at the suit of a private party, to adjudge that only twenty-five feet thereof were occupied for railroad purposes in the face of the grant and of the finding that the entire land in dispute was within two hundred feet of the track of the railroad as actually constructed, and that the railroad company was in actual possession thereof by its tenants.</p> <p>The precise character of the business carried on by such tenants is not disclosed, but the court is permitted to presume that it is consistent with the public duties and purposes of the railroad company; and, at any rate, a forfeiture for misuser could not be enforced in a private action.</p>