Lackawanna Obstruction Case
In Andover Borough Heard at Trenton
The first case heard in the Supreme
Court at Trenton last week was the appeal of the Lackawanna Railroad
Company against its conviction in the Sussex County courts of maintaining
a nuisance in Andover Borough by obstructing the highway with two
culverts. As will be remembered in the lower court Judge Hunt directed
a verdict against the railroad. Mr. Ssallman, the Lackawanna's regular
counsel, contended in his argument at Trenton that the trial court
erred in refusing to dismiss the indictment when the State rested
its case and also in excluding evidence offered by the defendant to
show the capacity of the passageway and the limited volume of travel
on the highway. It was also claimed that there was error in charging
the jury that railroad not legal right to build the passageway as
constructed.
Prosecutor Henry Huston, who appeared
for the State, contended that the railroad had no legal authority
for pre-empting a part of the highway, and that by doing so it became
liable to indictment for maintaining a nuisance.
The decision will be rendered at the
June term.