George Shiras, Jr.

“ If that body sees fit to provide a way by which the great commerce of the lakes and the countries west of them, even to Asia, shall be securely accommodated at the harbor of Duluth by this short canal of 300 or 400 feet, can this court decree that it must forever pursue the old channel, by the natural outlet, over water too shallow for large vessels, unsafe for small ones, and by a longer and much more tedious route? ”

“ Rep. 273, 303:
'The ground of this jurisdiction, in cases of purpresture, as well as of public nuisances, is the ability of courts of equity to give a more speedy, effectual, and permanent remedy than can be had at law. They can, not only prevent nuisances that are threatened, and before irreparable mischief ensues, but arrest or abate those in progress, and by perpetual injunction protect the public against them in the future; whereas courts of law can only reach existing nuisances, leaving future acts to be the subjects of new prosecutions or proceedings. ”

“ The bill in this case does not assail the drainage canal as an unlawful structure, nor aim to prevent its use as a waterway. What is sought is relief against the pouring of sewage and filth through it, by artificial arrangements, into the Mississippi river, to the detriment of the state of Missouri and her inhabitants, and the acts are not merely those that have been done, or which when done cease to operate, but acts contemplated as continually repeated from day to day. The relief prayed for is against, not merely the creation of a nuisance, but against its maintenance. ”

“ It can scarcely be supposed, in view of the express provisions of the Constitution and of the cited cases, that it is claimed that the state of Illinois is exempt from suit because she is a sovereign state which has not consented to be sued. The contention rather seems to be that, because the matters complained of in the bill proceed and will continue to proceed from the acts of the Sanitary District of Chicago, a corporation of the state of Illinois, it therefore follows that the state, as such, is not interested in the question, and is improperly made a party. ”

“ The states cannot make war, or enter into treaties, though they may, with the consent of Congress, make compacts and agreements. Where there is no agreement whose breach might create it, a controversy between states does not arise unless the action complained of is state action, and acts of state officers in abuse or excess of their powers cannot be laid hold of as in themselves committing one state to a distinct collision with a sister state. ”

“ Whenever the legislative or executive authority, or lawful agent, of any state, in controversy with another, shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the other state in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint, by joint consent, commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question ”

“ Can it be gravely contended that there are no preventive remedies, by way of injunction or otherwise, against injuries not inflicted or experienced, but which would appear to be the natural result of acts of the defendant, which he admits or avows it to be his intention to commit? ”

“ But my firm conviction is that in this, as in all the great dispensations and operations of nature, the interests of individuals are not only compatible with but identical with the interests of the public ”

“ We fully agree with the contention of defendants' counsel that it is settled that an injunction to restrain a nuisance will issue only in cases where the fact of nuisance is made out upon determinate and satisfactory evidence; that if the evidence be conflicting and the injury be doubtful, that conflict and doubt will be a ground for withholding an injunction ”

“ Idem v. Idem, 18 How. 429, 15 L. ed. 436, was a case in equity, in which the state of Pennsylvania filed a bill against the Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company, a corporation of Virginia, and certain contractors, charging that the defendants, under color of an act of the legislature of Virginia, were engaged in the construction of a bridge across the Ohio river at Wheeling, which would, as was alleged, obstruct its navigation to and from the ports of Pennsylvania, by steamboats and other crafts which navigated the same. ”

“ In such a state of facts, admitted by the demurrer to be true, we do not feel it necessary to enter at large into a discussion of this part of the defendants' contention, but think it sufficient to cite one or two authorities.
Atty. Gen. v. Jamaica Pond Aqueduct Corp. 133 Mass. 361, was a proceeding in equity in the supreme judicial court to enjoin the defendants from lowering the water in one of the public ponds of Massachusetts. ”