Perry Co. v. Newport & Sherman's Valley R. R.

Citations

• 150 Pa. 193
• 24 A. 709
• 1892 Pa. LEXIS 1306

Syllabus

<p>Railroads—Grossing, one by another, at grade—Act, 1849.</p> <p>The general railroad Act of Feb. 19, 1849, P. L. 83, giving a general authority to lay out and construct a railroad between designated termini, confers the right to cross the tracks of another company, by necessary implication, when absolutely necessary to carry out the grant of the franchise.</p> <p>Necessity for crossing, character of—Act, 1871.</p> <p>The Act of June 19, 1871, P. L. 1360, providing that the court shall “ascertain and define the mode of crossing which will inflict the least practical injury upon the rights of the road which is intended to be crossed, and if in the judgment of the court it is reasonably practicable to avoid a grade crossing, they shall by their process prevent a crossing at grade,” construed in accordance with our present surroundings, should be held to prevent all grade crossings except in case of imperious necessity. And the necessity must not be of its own creation, as by locating the line in one place when another route is practicable.</p> <p>The fact that the capital of a railroad is limited is not sufficient reason ■to justify a grade crossing; nor that the road is a local road through a •sparsely settled country, with a limited amount of business and but few .trains.</p> <p>Modification of Act of 1868 by Act of 1871.</p> <p>The Act of April 4, 1868, giving railroad companies the right to cross at grade the tracks of any other railroad, is modified by the Act of 1871, the purpose of the latter Act being the protection of the rights of the public and prior corporations.</p> <p>Constitution—Art. xvn, sec. 1.</p> <p>Article xvn, § 1, of the constitution, providing that every railroad company shall have the right, with its road, to intersect, connect with or cross any other railroad, does not refer to or authorize grade crossings; and a decree preventing a grade crossing does not conflict with this provision of the constitution.</p>