Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/248/121/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 19:59:02+00:00

Document:
"for improving the Chicago River, in Illinois, from its mouth to the stockyards on the South Branch and to Belmont Avenue on the North Branch, as far as may be permitted by existing docks and wharves, to be dredged to admit passage by vessels drawing sixteen feet of water."
was carried on thereunder. [Footnote 3] About 12.5 miles of the river was improved by the government, and of this about 5 miles consisted of that part of the North Branch which lies between the main river and Belmont Avenue.
Early in 1899, Tempel became the owner of certain land on the bank of the North Branch below Belmont Avenue. He leased his land for a brickyard, and by the terms of the lease the lessee was permitted to dredge the bottom of the river in front of the premises for the purpose of making brick from the clay thereunder. But the lessee was directed not to interfere with the upland, and he covenanted to deliver up the premises in the condition in which they were demised. Nevertheless, from time to time during a period of five years between 1889 and 1899, the lessee dug away, to a depth of from 6 to 14 feet, a large strip of the upland, extending in some places to a considerable width. In its natural state, the stream opposite the plaintiff's property varied in width from probably 50 to 150 feet, and could be used only for floating logs and for travel by rowboats or canoes; but before 1889, riparian owners had dug a channel and possibly greatly widened the stream, and schooners navigated to a point beyond Belmont Avenue. Between 1890 and 1899, boats drawing 5 to 8 feet of water were navigating the North Branch up to Belmont Avenue. In 1896, the river in front of Tempel's property was in varying depths of from 6 to 14 or 15 feet.
objection was made by Tempel until 1910 to the use for navigation of the river in front of his property, and he did not file any complaint as to the dredging of 1899. He had no knowledge until 1910 of the dredging which had been done by his lessee, nor of that done by the government.
Tempel's land was nonnavigable when he purchased it or theretofore, asserted that all excavations by the government were made in the center of the stream and were for the purpose of improving navigation, and denied that it had taken any of Tempel's property under the resolution of the Illinois Assembly or otherwise.
"That, by reason of the changes in said river as aforesaid, the difference between the value of the premises of the petitioner at the time when he purchased the same as aforesaid and the value of the same at the time that the demand as hereinbefore set forth was made, less the cost of reclaiming the same, were he entitled to make reclamation thereof, is $7,547.00."
As conclusions of law, the trial court found that the North Branch was navigable in its natural state, that it was navigable in fact as early as 1889, that Tempel, having failed to complain of the use by the public of the stream in front of his property for a period of at least ten years prior to the first dredging by the United States, was estopped from thereafter disputing the navigability of the river, and that the river being then a navigable stream, the dredging of the bed in 1899 and in 1909 did not constitute a taking of Tempel's property within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. Judgment was entered for the United States, and the case comes here on writ of error.
if any, which the government has taken is only the right to keep his land submerged, to navigate over it, and to improve it further for purposes of navigation. This right in the land the government claimed and claims that it already possessed at the time when it dredged on the property in question, and it is the same right which the government possesses in that portion of the present riverbed lying within the original meander lines and which originally constituted the whole riverbed. Under the law of Illinois, neither the United States nor the state owns the lands under a navigable river. Riparian owners own the fee to the middle of the stream, St. Louis v. Rutz, 138 U. S. 226, 138 U. S. 242, subject to the paramount right of the government to use the same and to make improvements therein for purposes of navigation, without the payment of compensation, West Chicago Street R. Co. v. Chicago, 201 U. S. 506, 201 U. S. 520; United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Co., 229 U. S. 53, 229 U. S. 62; Willink v. United States, 240 U. S. 572, 240 U. S. 580. Included in such permissible improvement is dredging for the purpose of deepening the channel. Lewis Blue Point Oyster Co. v. Briggs, 229 U. S. 82. It is only this right to use and improve for purposes of navigation that the government claims here, a right which the government undoubtedly possessed, if the land in question had been a part of the bed of the de jure stream, as was supposed.
is taken pursuant to an act of Congress as private property to be applied for public uses,"
"Whenever, in the exercise of its governmental rights, it takes property the ownership of which it concedes to be in an individual, it impliedly promises to pay therefor."
But, in the case at bar, both the pleadings and the facts found preclude the implication of a promise to pay. For the property applied to the public use is not and was not conceded to be in the plaintiff.
"excavate a channel in the Chicago River in the center of the stream, and now claims possession thereof for the purpose of making more navigable the North Branch."
to the case at bar, is conclusive on this point. See also Schillinger v. United States, 155 U. S. 163. The case at bar is entirely unlike both the Lynah case and the Cress case. In neither of those cases does it appear that, at the time of taking, there was any claim by the government of a right to invade the property in question without the payment of compensation. Under such circumstances, it must be assumed that the government intended to take and to make compensation for any property taken, so as to afford the basis for an implied promise. And when the implied promise to pay has once arisen, a later denial by the government (whether at the time of suit or otherwise) of its liability to make compensation does not destroy the right in contract and covert the act into a tort. In both of those cases, the facts required the implication of a promise to pay. But here, the government has contended since the beginning of the improvement that, at the time of the dredging in 1899 and in 1909, it possessed the right of navigation over the land in question, which right of navigation, if it existed, gave it the right to dredge further in order to improve navigation. The facts preclude implying a promise to pay. If the government is wrong in its contention, it has committed a tort. The United States has not conferred upon the district court jurisdiction to determine such a controversy. See Cramp & Sons v. Curtis Turbine Co., 246 U. S. 28, 246 U. S. 40-41.
The district court, instead of rendering judgment for the United States, should have dismissed the suit for want of jurisdiction.
Judgment reversed, and case remanded to the district court, with directions to dismiss it for want of jurisdiction.
The character of the river and rights incidental thereto have been frequently considered by this Court. Transportation Co. v. Chicago, 99 U. S. 635; Escanaba Co. v. Chicago, 107 U. S. 678; Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois, 146 U. S. 387, 146 U. S. 437; Harman v. Chicago, 147 U. S. 396; West Chicago Railroad v. Chicago, 201 U. S. 506, 201 U. S. 520.
Reports, War Department, Engineers, for 1893, pp. 2794-2804; for 1897, pp. 2793-2801; for 1900, pp. 3865-3871; for 1914, pp. 1157-1160; for 1916, pp. 1350-1354.
Act of July 1, 1898, c. 546, 30 Stat. 597, 632; June 6, 1900, c. 791, 31 Stat. 588, 626; June 13, 1902, c. 1079, 32 Stat. 331, 363, which authorized the construction of turning basins, but the one in the North Branch was constructed at a point considerably below the land in controversy; March 2, 1907, c. 2509, 34 Stat. 1073, 1102; May 28, 1908, c. 213, 35 Stat. 429.
Reports, War Department, Engineers, for 1899, pp. 2826-2833; for 1900, pp. 3784-3788.
Reports, War Department, Engineers, for 1899, pp. 2828-2833; for 1900, pp. 3785-3788; for 1901, pp. 2993, 2995; for 1905, p. 545, show that, in the dredging under the project of 1896, the effort had been to secure title to all property necessary for the proposed development and that it was believed that (with exceptions not here material) this had been done. The property here involved was not included in the land which it was proposed to acquire. The reports also show that the government was not aware that there was any property of a private owner which it was necessary to acquire in order to make the further improvement according to the 21-foot project, and in the accounting of the division of funds between different objects, none was assigned to the securing of land for widening the river. Reports, War Department, Engineers, for 1907, p. 627; for 1908, p. 672; for 1909, p. 709; for 1910, pp. 784-785; for 1911, p. 842; for 1912, p. 1009; for 1913, p. 1119; for 1914, pp. 1157-1160. Nowhere does it appear that the Secretary of War ever authorized the taking of the property involved in this suit.

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