United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Mayor of Vidalia v. McNeely, 274 U.S. 676 (1927)

Mayor of Vidalia v. McNeely

Nos. 140, 163

Argued January 26, 27, 1926

Decided June 6, 1927

274 U.S. 676

Syllabus

1. Ferries operated across boundary waters between states simply as a means of transit from shore to shore are instruments of local convenience and subject to local regulation to the extent that, in the absence of Congressional action, each state may act with respect to the ferriage from its shore. P. 274 U. S. 681.

2. But a state or its municipality may not make its license a condition precedent to the operation of such a ferry by one having full capacity to operate, and operating it serviceably. P. 274 U. S. 683.

3. Landing places for competing ferries in a town may be designated in an equity suit where the town has unlawfully refused to consider one of the ferries, upon the ground that it was not licensed, and assigned the place which it occupied to the competitor. P. 274 U. S. 683.

4. In Louisiana, the banks of navigable streams are subject to a servitude permitting their use for public purposes, including those incident to navigation. The owner of riparian lots is not entitled to preference in the use of the adjacent bank for ferry landings, nor does prior use entitle him to exclude another ferry where there is room for both. P. 274 U. S. 684.

6 F.2d 19, id. 21, affirmed.

Cross-appeals from a decree of the district court in a suit to restrain the Town of Vidalia, Louisiana, from interfering with the operation of a ferry.

Page 274 U. S. 677