Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/243/281.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 18:58:24+00:00

Document:
SWIFT & CO. v. HOCKING VALLEY R. CO.
[243 U.S. 281, 282] Messrs. M. Hampton Todd and William L. Day for plaintiff in error.
NOTE.-Private cars while in railroad service, whether on carrier's or private tracks, are subject to these demurrage rules to the same extent as cars of railroad ownership.
The next day judgment was rendered for the Railway Company. It was affirmed both by the court of appeals of Cuyahoga county and by the supreme court of Ohio. 93 Ohio St. 143, L.R.A. --, --, 112 N. E. 212.
Prior to the bringing of this action the Interstate Commerce Commission had held in Procter & G. Co. v. Cincinnati, H. & D. R. Co. 19 Inters. Com. Rep. 556, that carriers were 'within their lawful rights in establish- [243 U.S. 281, 286] ing and maintaining' the above rule for demurrage charges on private cars. The commerce court approved the finding. Procter & G. Co. v. United States, 188 Fed. 221, 227. An effort to secure a review of these decisions by this court failed. Procter & G. Co. v. United States, 225 U.S. 282 , 56 L. ed. 1091, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 761.
The facts which determine the character of the switch and the relation to it of carrier and shipper were carefully set forth in the amended petition and the 'license' annexed, copied in the margin. 1 Under it Swift & COMPANY [243 U.S. 281, 287] occupied a part of the railway company's premises for its warehouse and office and enjoyed the rights in the switch from its main lines. The 'license' recites, among other things, the licensee's desire 'to occupy a track of [243 U.S. 281, 288] ground belonging to the Railway Company . . . for the purpose of maintaining thereon a warehouse and office . . . in such a manner as not in any way to interfere with the . . . tracks . . . of the Railway Company . . .;' that the premises lie on 'the north side of the Railway Company's siding, known as the 'Bank Track' . . .;' that 'the switch of the Railway Company hereby let and connected with its main line shall at all times be under control of the Railway Company;' and that 'the Railway Company shall have the right at all times to enter upon the premises hereby let, for the purpose of repairing or maintaining the track thereon, or switching or removing cars thereover.' A rental of $30 per annum is provided for; but the license is terminable on thirty days' notice.
These facts were admitted by the demurrer, upon [243 U.S. 281, 289] them the case was heard by the court of common pleas, and upon them the case must be decided in this court, unaffected by stipulation of counsel made 'for the purpose only of reviewing the judgment of the common pleas court.' The construction and effect of a written instrument is a question of law. Dillon v. Barnard, 21 Wall. 430, 437, 22 L. ed. 673, 676. Clearly the track in question was not a private track of the shipper, but a track of the carrier,-like the spur passed upon in National Ref. Co. v. St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. 150 C. C. A. 361, 237 Fed. 347, affirming 226 Fed. 357.
If the stipulation is to be treated as an agreement concerning the legal effect of admitted facts, it is obviously inoperative; since the court cannot be controlled by agreement of counsel on a subsidiary question of law. See cases cited in the margin. 2 If the stipulation is to be treated as an attempt to agree 'for the purpose only of reviewing the judgment' below, that what are the facts shall be assumed not to be facts, a moot or fictitious case is presented. 'The duty of this court, as of every judicial tribunal, is limited to determining rights of persons or of property, which are actually controverted in the particular case before it . . . . No stipulation of parties or counsel, whether in the case before the court or in any other case, can enlarge the power, or affect the duty, of the court in this regard.' California v. San Pablo & T. R. Co. 149 U.S. 308, 314 , 37 S. L. ed. 747, 748, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 876. See Mills v. Green, 159 U.S. 651, 654 , 40 S. L. ed. 293, 294, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 132. The fact that effect was given to the stipulation by the appellate courts of Ohio does not conclude this court. See Tyler v. Judges of Ct. of Registration, 179 U.S. 405, 410 , 45 S. L. ed. 252, 254, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 206. We treat the stipulation, therefore, as a nullity. [243 U.S. 281, 290] Consignors or consignees of freight shipped in private cars pay the same rates for transportation as if the commodities had been shipped in the cars owned by the carriers; but the owners or lessees of private cars are paid or allowed by the carriers (east of the Mississippi river) a sum equal to three fourths of a cent per mile for refrigerator or tank cars and three fifths to a cent per mile for other cars. The cars are returned by the railroads to the owners without extra charge. The mileage allowance is paid for the return trip as well as on the journey to destination with load. And if the private car owner does not furnish a load for the return journey, the carriers have the right to load the cars. Re Demurrage Charges on Tank Cars, 13 Inters. Com. Rep. 378, 379.
[ Footnote 2 ] San Francisco Lumber Co. v. Bibb, 139 Cal. 325, 73 Pac. 864; Owen v. Herzihoff, 2 Cal. App. 622, 84 Pac. 274; Aubuchon v. Bender, 44 Mo. 560; Prescott v. Brooks, -- N. D. --, 94 N. W. 88, 94; Holms v. Johnston, 12 Heisk, 155. See also Breeze v. Haley, 11 Colo. 351, 362, 18 Pac. 551; Lyon v. Robert Garrett Lumber Co. 77 Kan. 823, 827, 92 Pac. 589; Wells v. Covenant Mut. Ben. Asso. 126 Mo. 630, 639, 29 S. W. 607.

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