Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/239/44
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:28:24+00:00

Document:
RIO GRANDE WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. THOMAS B. STRINGHAM et al.
Messrs. Waldemar Van Cott, E. M. Allison, Jr., and William D. Riter for plaintiff in error.
'If counsel for appellant thought that this court, in the prior opinion, did not correctly define and determine the extent of appellant's rights to the land in dispute, or did not fully safeguard its rights as defined and adjudged, they should have filed a petition for a rehearing. This they did not do. The conclusions of law and judgment having been drawn and entered in conformity with the decision of this court, we are precluded from further considering the case. The former decision became, and is, the law of the case, and this court, as well as the litigants, are bound thereby.' Being in doubt which of the judgments of the appellate court should be brought here for review to present properly the question respecting the nature of its title, the plaintiff concluded to bring up both, each by a separate writ of error.
Manifestly the first judgment was final within the meaning of Judicial Code, § 237 36 Stat. at L. 1156, chap. 231, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 1214. It disposed of the whole case on the merits, directed what judgment should be entered, and left nothing to the judicial discretion of the trial court. Tippecanoe County v. Lucas, 93 U. S. 108, 23 L. ed. 822; Bostwick v. Brinkerhoff, 106 U. S. 3, 27 L. ed. 73, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 15; Mower v. Fletcher, 114 U. S. 127, 29 L. ed. 117, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 799; Chesapeake & P. Teleph. Co. v. Manning, 186 U. S. 238, 46 L. ed. 1144, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 881. And as the question sought to be presented arises upon the first judgment,it being final in the sense of § 237,it is apparent that the writ of error addressed to the second judgment presents nothing reviewable here. See Northern P. R. Co. v. Ellis, 144 U. S. 458, 36 L. ed. 504, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 724; Great Western Teleg. Co. v. Burnham, 162 U. S. 339, 40 L. ed. 991, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 850; Chesapeake & O. R. Co. v. McCabe, 213 U. S. 207, 214, 53 L. ed. 765, 768, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 430.
The right of way granted by this and similar acts is neither a mere easement, nor a fee simple absolute, but a limited fee, made on an implied condition of reverter in the event that the company ceases to use or retain the land for the purposes for which it is granted, and carries with it the incidents and remedies usually attending the fee. New Mexico v. United States Trust Co. 172 U. S. 171, 183, 43 L. ed. 407, 411, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 128; Northern P. R. Co. v. Townsend, 190 U. S. 267, 271, 47 L. ed. 1044, 1046, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 671; United States v. Michigan, 190 U. S. 379, 398, 47 L. ed. 1103, 1110, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 742; Western U. Teleg. Co. v. Pennsylvania R. Co. 195 U. S. 540, 570, 49 L. ed. 312, 323, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 133, 1 Ann. Cas. 517. The judgment under review does not in words so characterize the plaintiff's right, nor was it essential that it should do so. It describes the right in the exact terms of the right-of-way act, and evidently uses those terms with the same meaning they have in the act. So interpreting the judgment, as plainly must be done, we think it accords to the plaintiff all to which it is entitled under the act.
KERN RIVER CO. et al. v. UNITED STATES.
NOBLE et al. v. OKLAHOMA CITY. HIGGINGS et al. v. SAME.
UNITED STATES v. SOLDANA et al.
GEORGIA RY. & POWER CO. et al. v. TOWN OF DECATUR.
CHOCTAW, O. & G. R. CO. et al. v. MACKEY, County Treasurer, et al.

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