United States Courts of Appeals Reports; Cases Adjudged in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals Volume 48 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ...to exercise his option to surrender the property for a period of two years after the date of the judgment, and there is no ground in law or in equity upon which he may now be relieved against the judgment for its assessed value. The decree will be Afiirmed, with costs to the appellees. Syllabus. UNITED STATES 2: . BELLINGHAM BAY BOOM COM PAN Y. APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE Congress has power under the Constitution of the United States to pass laws for the regulation of navigation on rivers and to prevent any and all obstructions therein, but there must be a direct statute of the United States in order to bring within the scope of its laws, as administered by the courts of law and equity, obstructions and nuisances in navigable streams within the States. Such obstructions and nuisances are offenses against the laws of the State within which the navigable waters lie, and may be indicted or prohibited as such; but they are not offenses against United States laws which do not exist; and none such exist except those which are to be found on the statute book. In the absence of any Congressional legislation upon the subject, the States possess plenary power by appropriate enactments to authorize the obstruction of navigable streams which exist within their borders. The object of Congress in making appropriations for the improvement of a navigable river existing within the borders of a State is not to regulate and promote commerce, and acts of Congress making such appropriations impose no inhibition upon the legislature of the State which will prevent the construction under state authority of booms, dams, piers, or bridges upon the river. The adoption by Congress of the act of September 19, 1890, 26 Stat. 426, c. 907, .