United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 229 U.S. 244 (1913)

United States v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company

No. 118

Argued October 19, 20, 1911

Decided June 10, 1913

229 U.S. 244

Syllabus

A judgment dismissing, on the merits, an equity action brought by the Secretary of War against a railroad company to declare a bridge over a navigable stream to be an unreasonable obstruction and to require its removal under the Act of March 3, 1899, on the ground that the provisions of the act did not apply, held, in a criminal trial on an indictment charging the same party with violating the penal provisions of the said act, to be res judicata and decisive of the question. Quaere how far, if at all, a statutory grant to erect a bridge over navigable waters of the United States on specified terms in an act of Congress without reservation of the right to alter or amend operates to limit Congress to directly legislate as to removal or alteration of such bridge.

Quaere what the effect is on subsequent action by Congress of a decree of a court in an action determining that a bridge was properly erected over a navigable stream pursuant to grant in an earlier act of Congress.

The facts, which involve the construction of provisions of the Act of March 3, 1899, in regard to the authority of the Secretary of War to require alteration of bridges over nav;gable waters of the United States, are stated in the opinion.

Page 229 U. S. 245