Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/199/473/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 04:06:07+00:00

Document:
In the absence of legislation by Congress, a state has full power to improve its lands and promote the general health by authorizing dams across interior streams, although previously navigable to the sea.
Nothing in the existing Constitution of South Carolina interferes with the common law powers of the state over its navigable waters.
The interdiction of statutes impairing the obligation of contracts does not prevent a state from properly exercising its police powers for the public good notwithstanding contracts previously entered into between individuals may be affected.
While the police power of a state is subject to limitations, there is a wide discretion as to its exercise in the legislature, with whose determination as to what is and what is not necessary the courts ordinarily will not interfere.
Except where property is taken for which compensation must be made, private interests are subservient to the exercise of the police power, and must give way to general schemes for the public health.
Courts may take judicial notice that the public health is greatly affected by the existence of swamp lands and the reclamation of such lands is a proper exercise of the police powers.
Where there is a practical destruction or material impairment of value of lands by overflowing them as the result of construction of dams, there is a taking within the meaning of the federal Constitution which demands compensation, but otherwise when the owner is merely put, as in this case, to additional expense in warding off the consequences of the overflow.
A court of equity is not bound to enjoin a public work authorized by statute until compensation is paid where no property is directly appropriated, especially where it is difficult to ascertain the damage, if any, and the statute contains reasonable provisions for compensation.
Although a river may, for purposes of transit and travel, be a highway, in the prohibition in the Constitution of South Carolina against special legislation in regard to highways, that word is used in its ordinary sense, and the prohibition is inapplicable to water highways.
A general law enacted by a legislature may be repealed, amended, or disregarded by a subsequent legislature, and a special act is not necessarily invalid because the legislature dispensed with certain formalities required by a general law in regard to the passage of such act.
to enjoin the damming or otherwise obstructing Kinloch Creek in the County of Georgetown, South Carolina. A demurrer to the bill was sustained, and the bill subsequently dismissed. See 123 F. 707.
It seems that, in 1898, the plaintiff and the two defendants, Springs and Lachicotte, together with one Ford, were adjoining riparian owners on the Santee River at the mouth of Kinloch Creek. The creek furnished access as a highway to all the proprietors on its banks. At that time, the defendants constructed a dam across the creek for their own purposes. Objection was made to this by plaintiff and by Ford as an interference with their rights of passage and irrigation. Plaintiff also complained that the effect was to compel him to raise the dikes around his lands. As a result of long negotiations, a compromise was effected and a contract entered into in August, 1898, between defendants under the name of S. M. Ward & Company, of the first part, and plaintiff and Ford, of the second part, whereby it was agreed that the obstructions should continue until December 31 of that year, when they should be removed, so as to give the parties complaining a clear passage through the creek.
This removal was effected, and matters allowed to remain as they were until 1903, when the general assembly of the state passed an act reciting the necessity of draining the lowlands on the Santee River, whereby their taxable value would be greatly enhanced. Authority was given to the defendants by name to erect and maintain a dam across Kinloch Creek, with a proviso that they should be liable for all such damages as might be established in any court of competent jurisdiction by any landowner claiming that his land had been damaged by reason of the erection of the dam.
The gravamen of the bill is the alleged impairment by the statute of 1903 of the contract entered into in 1898, by which defendants agreed to remove the dam then existing, and to allow such creek to remain open and unobstructed.
It was also charged that the Constitution of South Carolina, declaring that all navigable waters should forever remain public highways, was a privilege annexed to and constituting a part of the value of the lands, and that the damming of the creek, except for the purpose of the public health, welfare, and safety and without due compensation therefor, was a destruction of the property of the plaintiff and a deprivation thereof without due process of law.
Creek, and would thus compel him to raise and strengthen his banks.
1. The first question considered by the court below was whether Kinloch Creek was a navigable water of the United States, as defined in the case of The Montello, 11 Wall. 411, or navigable, as navigable streams are defined by the Constitution and the laws of South Carolina. The court was of opinion, based apparently upon affidavits not sent up with the record, that the creek was not a navigable stream under these definitions.
"unless it comes in conflict with the Constitution or a law of the United States, is an affair between the government of Delaware and its citizens, of which this Court can take no cognizance."
The act was sustained. See also Pound v. Turck, 95 U. S. 459; Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 732; Huse v. Glover, 119 U. S. 543.
"all highways, whether by land or water, are subject to such crossings as the public necessities and convenience may require, and their character as such is not changed if the crossings are allowed under reasonable conditions, and not so as to needlessly obstruct the use of the highways."
"the clause, therefore, in the act admitting California, quoted above, upon which the complainant relies, must be considered, according to these decisions, as in no way impairing the power which the state could exercise over the subject if the clause had no existence."
To the same effect, Willamette Iron Bridge Co. v. Hatch, 125 U. S. 1; Hamilton v. Vicksburg &c. R. Co., 119 U. S. 280, 119 U. S. 284.
In Lake Shore &c. R. Co. v. Ohio, 165 U. S. 365, it was held that the Act of September 19, 1890, conferring upon the Secretary of War the authority to direct the alteration of such bridges so as to render navigation easy and unobstructed, did not deprive the states of authority to bridge such streams.
to make other improvements for the reclamation of swampy and overflowed lands, though certain individual proprietors may thereby be subjected to expense. The question whether Kinloch Creek could be obstructed without the permission of the Secretary of War does not arise in this case, and is specially disclaimed by the plaintiff. See Lake Shore &c. Railroad Co. v. Ohio, 165 U. S. 365; Leovy v. United States, 177 U. S. 621, 177 U. S. 633; Cummings v. Chicago, 188 U. S. 410; Montgomery v. Portland, 190 U. S. 89.
The main argument was addressed to the question whether the contract of August, 1898, providing for the removal of the obstruction on December 31 and the free ingress and egress through the creek thereafter, was impaired by the act of the general assembly of 1903, permitting the defendants by name to construct and maintain the dam in question.
It is the settled law of this Court that the interdiction of statutes impairing the obligation of contracts does not prevent the state from exercising such powers as are vested in it for the promotion of the common weal, or are necessary for the general good of the public, though contracts previously entered into between individuals may thereby be affected. This power, which in its various ramifications is known as the police power, is an exercise of the sovereign right of the government to protect the lives, health, morals, comfort, and general welfare of the people, and is paramount to any rights under contracts between individuals. Familiar instances of this are where parties enter into contracts, perfectly lawful at the time, to sell liquor, operate a brewery or distillery, or carry on a lottery, all of which are subject to impairment by a change of policy on the part of the state prohibiting the establishment or continuance of such traffic -- in other words, that parties, by entering into contracts, may not estop the legislature from enacting laws intended for the public good.
courts ordinarily will not interfere with. The leading case upon this point is that of Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, 11 Pet. 420, in which a franchise to maintain a ferry between Cambridge and Boston, under which a bridge was subsequently erected, was held to be subject to the power of the legislature to establish a parallel bridge between the same points. In Stone v. Mississippi, 101 U. S. 814, a charter to a lottery company for twenty-five years was held to be subject to the power of the state to abolish lotteries altogether. Similar cases announcing the same principle are Boyd v. Alabama, 94 U. S. 645; Beer Company v. Massachusetts, 97 U. S. 25; Butchers' Union Co. v. Crescent City Co., 111 U. S. 746; New Orleans Gas Light Co. v. Louisiana Light Co., 115 U. S. 650, 115 U. S. 672; Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623, 123 U. S. 665; Chicago &c. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226.
It only remains to consider, in connection with this branch of the case, whether the act of the general assembly of 1903 was a proper exercise of the police power of the state. Of this we have no doubt. Although it was not an exercise of that power in its ordinarily accepted sense of protecting the health, lives, and morals of the community, it is defensible in its broader meaning of providing for the general welfare of the people by the reclamation of swampy, overflowed, and infertile lands and the erection of dams, levees, and dikes for that purpose. We have often held that private interests are subservient to that right except where property is taken for which compensation must be paid, and must give way to any general scheme for the reclamation or improvement of such lands.
"by reason of the drainage and protection of said lands from overflow, their taxable value will be greatly enhanced and, without the dam provided for in this bill, a large part of the land bordering on said creek will eventually become abandoned and valueless, as some portions of it now are,"
"The value of the property on its banks must be enhanced by excluding the water from the marsh, and the health of the inhabitants probably improved. Measures calculated to produce these objects, provided they do not come into collision with the powers of the general government, are undoubtedly within those which are reserved to the states."
Several subsequent decisions have confirmed the power of the state to deal, in the absence of congressional legislation, with their rivers, for the purposes of their internal improvement, such as Withers v. Buckley, 20 How. 84, wherein the right of Mississippi to change the channels or courses of rivers within the state for the purpose of improvement was sustained, and Atkinson v. Philadelphia &c. R. Co., 2 Fed.Cas. 105, Case 615, a decision by Mr. Justice Baldwin of this Court.
(Red Pass) was useful for some minor purposes of interstate commerce. There was testimony that luggers or yawls chiefly used by fishermen to carry oysters to and from their beds sometimes went through this pass, but it was not shown that passengers ever went through it, or that freight destined for any other state was ever carried through it.
"We think that the trial court might well take judicial notice that the public health is deeply concerned in the reclamation of swamp and overflowed lands. If there is any fact which may be supposed to be known by everybody, and therefore by courts, it is that swamps and stagnant waters are the cause of malarial and malignant fevers, and that the police power is never more legitimately exercised than in removing such nuisances."
While, as already observed, there is a general allegation in the bill that Kinloch Creek was a navigable stream and was capable of navigation by vessels in the Santee River and thence into the ocean, there is no allegation that it was ever used for that purpose, and the opinion of the court was that it certainly was not a navigable water of the United States, or a public highway under the laws of South Carolina. But, however this may be, we are of opinion that the state had full power, in the absence of legislation by Congress, to authorize the construction of this dam for the avowed purposes of this act.
2. The second assignment of error, that the plaintiff was deprived of his property without compensation, and hence without due process of law, is also unsound.
the law, when the damage can be prevented by raising the banks, or that, if the damage stated did in fact result, that it would justify the interposition of a court of equity.
The question whether the overflow of lands constitutes "a taking" within the constitutional provision has been discussed in several cases in this Court. Pumpelly v. Green Bay Co., 13 Wall. 166; Transportation Company v. Chicago, 99 U. S. 635; Gibson v. United States, 106 U. S. 269; Scranton v. Wheeler, 179 U. S. 141; Atwater v. Canandaigua, 124 N.Y. 602.
"there was no taking of the plaintiff's lands, but simply an injury which could be remedied at an expense, as alleged, of $10,000, and the action was one to recover the amount of this consequential injury. The court rightfully held that it could not be sustained."
A still more recent case is that of Bedford v. United States, 192 U. S. 217, in which it is held that damages to lands by flooding as a result of revetments erected by the United States along the banks of the Mississippi River to prevent erosion of the banks from natural causes are consequential, and do not constitute a taking of the lands flooded within the meaning of the Constitution.
compensation; but otherwise where, as in this case, plaintiff is merely put to some extra expense in warding off the consequences of the overflow.
The damage claimed by the plaintiff in the interruption of access to his lands and the impairment of his right to navigate the creek does not demand separate consideration. We have repeatedly held that, where the government of the United States has, for the purposes of improving the navigation of a river, erected piers or other structures by which access to plaintiff's land is rendered more difficult, there is no claim for compensation. Gibson v. United States, 166 U. S. 269; Scranton v. Wheeler, 179 U. S. 141. We see no reason why the same principle should not apply to cases where the state legislature, exercising its police power, directs a certain dam to be built, and thereby incidentally impairs access to lands above the dam. In both cases, the sovereign is exercising its constitutional right -- in one case in improving the navigation of the river, and in the other in draining its lowlands, and thereby enhancing their value for agricultural purposes.
It is suggested that the agreement of 1898 created an easement of access to plaintiff's land. Ladd v. Boston, 151 Mass. 585; Hogan v. Barry, 143 Mass. 538, and that the statute of South Carolina must be construed as overriding private rights of property, and not merely as putting an end to the rights of the public, and as giving to plaintiff a claim for damages for the taking of the easement. But it does not necessarily follow that an injunction should issue. Apparently this covenant did not apply to the mill site, since this was purchased after the covenant was made; but, however this may be, a court of equity is not bound to enjoin a public work authorized by statute, until compensation is paid, where no property is directly appropriated. This is particularly true where the damage is difficult of ascertainment at the time, and a reasonable provision is made by the law for compensation. Sweet v. Rechel, 159 U. S. 380; Backus v. Fort Street Union Depot Co., 169 U. S. 557; Cherokee Nation v.
Southern Kansas R. Co., 135 U. S. 641; Beasley v. Texas & Pacific Ry. Co., 191 U. S. 492; Haverhill Bridge v. Essex County, 103 Mass. 120; Parker v. Catholic Bishop, 146 Ill. 158. The state cases are numerous on this point.
In view of the incidental character of the damage probably resulting to plaintiff's land from the erection of this dam, and the careful provision of the act that the defendants shall be liable for such damage, we do not think at least, in the absence of an allegation that the defendants are financially irresponsible, that a court of equity would be authorized to enjoin the erection until the damages, which, if they exist at all, must be very difficult of ascertainment, shall be paid.
"the General Assembly of this state shall not enact local or special laws concerning any of the following subjects, or for any of the following purposes, to-wit: . . . II. To lay out, open, alter, or work roads or highways."
As the case comes from a federal court, the question is properly before us.
Admitting that, for the purposes of transit and travel, a river may be considered a highway -- and that seems to have been adjudged by the Supreme Court of South Carolina, Heyward v. Chisolm, 11 Rich. L. 253 -- we think that, in connection with the words "to lay out, open, alter, or work roads," the word "highway" is used in its ordinary sense, and as an equivalent to a public road. The power given by this section is evidently inapplicable to water highways, which are neither laid out, opened, altered, or worked in the ordinary sense of these words.
whatsoever, shall be introduced or entertained in either house of the general assembly except by petition, to be signed by the persons desiring such privileges, of which sixty days notice shall be given to all person interested, and be published in the newspaper having the largest circulation in the county where such privilege is to be enjoyed, once a week for three weeks, etc.
As this is not a constitutional provision, but a general law enacted by the legislature, it may be repealed, amended, or disregarded by the legislature which enacted it. This law was doubtless intended as a guide to persons desiring to petition the legislature for special privileges, and it would be a good answer to any petition for the granting of such privileges that the required notice had not been given; but it is not binding upon any subsequent legislature, nor does a noncompliance with it impair or nullify the provisions of an act passed without the requirement of such notice.

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