Source: https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Fanning_v._Gregoire
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 23:29:58+00:00

Document:
THIS was an appeal from the District Court of the United States for the District of Iowa.
It originated in the State Court, called the District Court of the County of Dubuque, and was transferred to the District Court of the United States, at the instance of Gregoire and Bogg, the defendants. Gregoire was a citizen and resident of Missouri, and Bogg of Illinois.
The facts in the case are stated in the opinion of the court. The District Court dismissed the petition of Fanning, with costs, upon the ground that his ferry franchise was not exclusive, whereupon he appealed to this court.
It was argued by Mr. Wilson, for the appellant, and by Mr. Platt Smith, for the appellees.
The points made by Mr. Wilson were the following.
The act of the Legislature of Iowa, entitled 'An act to authorize Timothy Fanning to establish and keep a ferry across the Mississippi river at the town of Dubuque,' approved December 14th, 1838, gave said Fanning an exclusive right as against any other ferry not established by a direct act of the legislature. See that act in vol. 1st of Iowa Statutes, pages 205 and 206.
It did not mean a judicial tribunal. The legislature uses the word as defined by Webster. See Iowa Laws, vol. 1st, p. 208-9, where it is applied to a tribunal which could have no judicial power. See Act of Congress organizing Iowa, published in the same book, p. 34, § 9.
The authority, by virtue of which the defendants claim the right to carry on a ferry at the same place where Fanning's ferry is established, is derived from a contract between the mayor and aldermen of the city of Dubuque, of the one part, and A. L. Gregoire, of the other; the city authorities claim to derive this power from the 15th section of an act of the Legislature of Iowa, to incorporate and establish the city of Dubuque, approved February 24, 1847.
If Fanning's charter was not exclusive, as contended for, and if the city authorities could establish and license another, they can only do so in the manner prescribed by the act creating the city, to wit, by ordinance. See § 15 of said city charter.
Sec. 20 of said city charter provides that every ordinance of said city, before it shall be of any force or validity, or in any manner binding on the inhabitants thereof, or others, shall be signed by the mayor and published in one or more newspapers in said city, at least six days.
The ferry of defendants was established by contract, and not by ordinance.
'A corporation can act only in in the manner prescribed by the act creating it.' Chief J. Marshall, in Head & Amory v. Prov. Ins. Co. 2 Cranch, 127, (1 Cond. 371); 4 Wheaton, 518, (4 Cond. 528); 12 Wheaton 64; 4 Peters, 152; 8 Wheaton, 338; 2 Scammon, 187.
The act of City Council of Dubuque establishing the ferry, which the defendants claim to carry on, was null and void, and confers upon them no ferry franchise, and the plaintiff's right to maintain this action follows, as a matter of course.
'The owner of an old established ferry has a right of action against him who, in his neighborhood, keeps a free ferry, or a ferry not authorized by the proper tribunal, whereby an injury accrues to the owner of the established ferry.' Long v. Beard 3 Murph. 57.
Mr. Smith divided his argument into the two following heads.
1. That the Legislature of Iowa had no right to grant such an exclusive right as the one contended for. The argument upon this head is omited for want of room.
2. But admit the power of the legislature to confine the travelling public to horse-boat accommodation, still the words of the act do not give an exclusive right; there are no words of exclusion expressed, and none should be implied. The act by express terms prohibits courts and boards of commissioners from granting other ferry rights, expressio unius est exclusio alterius. The legislature were not excluded from giving the city of Dubuque a right to license another ferry.
It is a well-settled principle of law that in construing government grants, the courts will construe them most strongly against the grantee, and in favor of the grantor; that if the terms of the grant are ambiguous, or admit of different meanings, that meaning which is most favorable to the government will be adopted, and no right or privilege will be deemed to be surrendered by implication. 2 Blackstone's Com. 347; 1 Kent's Com. 460.
In the case of Barrett v. Stockton Railway Co. 40 Eng. Com. Law, 208, the court held that, 'Where the language of an act of parliament, obtained by a company for imposing a rate of toll upon the public, is ambiguous, or will admit of different meanings, that construction is to be adopted which is most favorable to the public.' And the court refer to the general principle laid down by Lord Ellenborough, in his judgment in Gildart v. Gladstone, 11 East, 675, (an action for Liverpool dock dues,) who there says, 'If the words would fairly admit of different meanings, it would be right to adopt that which is more favorable to the interest of the public and against that of the company; because the company, in bargaining with the public, ought to take care to express distinctly what payments they are to receive, and because the public ought not to be charged unless it be clear that it was so intended.' In the case of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal v. Hustler, 1 B. & C. 424, (8 Eng. Com. Law, 118,) the court say, 'Those who seek to impose a burden upon the public should take care that their claim rests upon plain and unambiguous language.' All these cases are decided on the principle that government grants are construed strictly against the grantee, and in favor of the grantor.
In the case of Dyer v. Tuscaloosa Bridge Co. 2 Alab. R. 305, the court hold, that a grant of a ferry over a public watercourse, and for the convenience of the community, is not such an exclusive grant as necessarily implies that the government will not directly or indirectly interfere with it by the creation of a rival franchise or otherwise.
This mode of construing statutes is so old and well settled as to make the citation of further authorities unnecessary. It is very obvious, by applying these principles to the present case, that courts and boards of county commissioners were enumerated as the tribunals prohibited from granting ferry rights. The legislature reserved the right of granting the like franchise to any other person whenever the public good required it. In pursuance of this reserved right the legislature delegated the power of licensing ferries to the city council. The council, by this act, were made the proper judges of the necessity of other ferries, and in fact were constituted the guardians of the public interest in this respect, and when the city council have exercised this power and granted a license, no tribunal is authorized to revise or annul their proceedings on the ground that no necessity existed for another ferry. This court has no more power to inquire into and revise the action of the city council, in this respect, than it has to declare war or issue a proclamation for the conquest of Cuba or Canada. The power of granting franchises is a political and police regulation, resting exclusively with the legislature. The legislature is the judge of the number of ferries required for public accommodation, and the city council, when acting under a delegated authority from the legislature, possess the same power, which is not examinable by any other department of the government except to ascertain whether the power has been properly delegated. See Salem & Hamburg Turnpike Co. v. Lyme, 18 Conn. R. 456.
The omission of the word exclusive, which word the legislature well understood and freely used in various other charters granted at the same term of the legislature, is a very significant circumstance in this case.
In the case of Harrison v. The State, 9 Missouri, 526, where in the repeal of one city charter and the adoption of another, in a provision with regard to ferry charters the word 'exclusive,' which was employed in the first one, was dropped in the second. The court say that 'according to the charter of 1839 the city authorities were invested with exclusive power within the city to license and regulate the keeping of ferries; but in the charter of 1843, which was in force when this indictment was found, the word 'exclusive' is omitted, with the design, as we must presume, of leaving this subject upon the same basis with the other subjects of city taxation.
'The question whether a law be void for its repugnancy to the constitution is a question which ought seldom, if ever, to be decided in the affirmative in a doubtful case. The opposition between the constitution and the law should be such that the judge feels a clear and strong conviction of their incompatibility with each other.' Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 87, 131; 2 Cond. Rep. 317.
'If any act of Congress or of the legislature of a State violates the constitutional provisions, it is unquestionably void; if, on the other hand, the legislature of the Union or the legislature of any member of the Union, shall pass a law within the general scope of their constitutional power, the court cannot pronounce it to be void merely because it is in their judgment contrary to the principles of natural justice. If the legislature pursue the authority delegated to them, their acts are valid; if they transgress the boundaries of that authority, their acts are invalid.' Iredell, J., in Calder v. Bull, 3 Dallas, 386; 1 Cond. Rep. U.S. 184 n.
But these different rules of construction all point one way. They all require the court to construe the charter favorably to the public and strictly against the grantee. Nothing can be taken by implication or construction.

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