The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-11-28
PLANK ROAD CASE
Court of Errors Hears Ar
guments Of Lawyers on
Both Sides.
DECISION NEXT MARCH
Lindabury Appears for Com
pany and Holds That
Pleas Before Supreme
Court Were Good.

of the, writ Of error to have set aside the
| Judgment given in favor of the State and
| against the Newark Plank Road Company
was taken up in the Court of Errors and
| Appeals Immediately after the lunch aaour
| yesterday afternoon The Supreme Court
| has already held that the act under which
| the Newark Plank Road charter was ex-
tended fifty years was unconstitutional.
The proceedings against the company to
compel the making of the plank road a
free highway were begun by the Newark
Board of Trade.
R. v. Lindabury opened the case on be-
half of the Plank Road Company and
went at length into the demurrer on
which the Supreme Court gave it's de-
cision. He charged that inasmuch as but
a single demurrer was filed to the three
pleas of the company, the decision of the
Supreme Court was faulty. Not only was
the finding of the court bad because it
was based on the single demurrer, but
Mr.. Lindabury contended that the pleas
of the Plank Road Company were good.
| Mr.. Lindabury was followed by Henry
Young, who made a protracted argument
in support of the Supreme Courts de-
| cision.
| In reply James B. Vredenburg, on be-
| half of the company, made technical
argument along the same lines as pur-
sued by Mr.. Lndabury, and the argu-
ment was closed by Samuel Kalisch. The
| decision of the court will not likely be
announced until the March term of the
| Court of Errors.
| Counsel for the plaintiff, in their argu-
ment on the appeal, referred to numer-
/ Gus decisions in support of their condi-
| tions. The claim made by the company
| that, under a clause in section IS of the
| act under which the company was incor-
porated. the right to exercise its franchise
did not expire until February "a next was
held to refer only to the time in which
| the construction of the road should be
| commenced and not to the time when it's
| franchise began. The section is as fol-
| lows
This act shall be deemed and taken as
| a public act, and shall at all times, in all
courts and places whatsoever, be recog-
| nized as such, and shall be commenced
within two years and continue in full
force for the term of fifty years.
/ The three differen counts made in the
| information of the attorney-general were
then taken up. Briefly they were as fol-
| lows:-That the company since February
"a. 1899, has ''unlawfully used the liberties,
privileges and franchises of a body polite
| and corporate that the corporate exist
ence of the company ceased on February
1 "a, 1899, and that the defendant has ''un-
+! lawfully demanded an dreceived tool for
every horse and rider, beast and vehicle
| using said road and passing through said
gates and turnpikes,'' and ''that said de-
fendant claims to have authority to OPP
crate a hore or street railroad construct
ed on the side and along the line of said
road above mentioned and to demand and
receive fares for the transportation of
passengers over it, and that ever since
1 said twenty-fourth day of February, 1899,
| it has unlawfully used and exercised this
1 franchise"
| Referring to the pleas filed by the COM
pany to each of the events counsel said:-
1T appears that the defendant, in its
first and second pleas, asserts that it is
now collecting, and has right to collect,
under the warrant stated therein, freights,
/ ferriage and tolls, from persons passing
! over its turnpike and it's bridges, either
| on foot or with beasts or vehicles, and
that it has established and still maintains
| gates across said bridges for that pur-
pose, but in its third plea, that it is not
exercising the liberty and franchise of
| operating street railroad because it has
| leased its railroad for 9s9 years to the
| North Jersey Street Railway Company,
which corporation is now operating said
| railroad, and receiving fares for trans
porting passengers over the same"
Continuing counsel stated that to the
! pleas the encouragement demurred and
| Judgment had been entered thereon in
/ the Supreme Court against the company
| 1t was declared that two questions were
/ presented: First, does the legislation set
| forth in this pleading justify the COM
| pany in continuing to exercise the fran
| chises still admittedly exercised by it?
/ Second, does the fact that the company
| has leased its street railroad to another
/ corporation, which is now operating it.
prevent the State from interposing, as
against it, for the purpose of having it
adjudged an usurper of this franchise?
Taking up the first plea of the company,
counsel said
by the charter of the defendant cor
poration, its corporate existence termin-
ated on the twenty-four day of jan
uary, 1899. No supplement thereto, or any
other legislative act, attempts to ex-
tend this corporate existence save only
the act of April 9, 1899, set forth in the
first plea, but this act is unconstitutional,
because it's title does not truthfully set
forth the object of the act. Constitution
of New Jersey, Art. ", Sec Z, par. ~
Indeed it would be difficult to refer to any
legislative act, which more conspicuously
indicates purpose to impose upon the
Legislature and the people of the State,
by concealing its real object
Its title is AN act concerning COM
| panies empowered to construct horse
railroads. Certainly no one reading this
| title would suppose that this act was in
tended to apply to companies, the pri
mary of whose Incorporation was the
establishment of a toll or turnpike. road
/ On the other hand, this certain inference
would be that the act applied to horse
| railway companies only The attention
| of the Legislature was thus diverted
/ from its real purpose.
Further, the title indicates that the act
applied to all companies empowered to
| construct horse railroads and that it ex-
l cluded no such company from its opera
tion, vet the body of the act limits its
4 application to corporations having the
! following characteristics:-sT Those hereto
\ tore incornorated under z snecial act Of