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The bill to establish an academy at Easton, in Talbot county, endorsed;
" By the senate, December THE amendments proposed by the senate to the bill for regulating ferries, resulted from great deliberation; and on mature reflection they have resolved to adhere to the provisions which those amendments were calculated to secure. On examining the existing laws upon the subject of ferries, and the operation of those laws for many years, we could not discover that any inconveniencies prevailed, except perhaps from the limitation of the power of the county courts in the establishment of public ferries at places where such undertakings have been used since the passage of the original act, and from the excess of power given over the property of owners or possessors in case of refusal or disability to keep or rent the ferries attached to their soil. These inconveniencies are proposed to be remedied by the amendments of the senate; in all other respects the provisions of the present acts are preserved, without material alteration, and were comprised into one system for more general convenience. We saw no good reason for divesting the county courts of the power heretofore given them upon this subject; and therefore all the amendments relating to this branch of the bill, only proposed to leave the authority where it has all along subsisted; we perceived that the provisions of the existing laws were intended to prevent monopolies, and to excite a valuable competition among different persons licensed at the same ferry; and approving of this policy, we thought it proper to preserve it in the formation of a new law. It must be conceded, that independently of any law, every citizen has a right to use a public highway leading to any water, and also a right to cross that water, and to land upon the highway on the opposite shore; he has of course a right to employ a boat and labourers for this purpose, and also for the accommodation of others who may desire to pass over the same water; and this right is now restrained in no other degree than has become necessary for public convenience, by the due regulation of ferries. Upon the whole, if you will be pleased to compare the amendments with the provisions of the existing laws, you will find that nothing affecting the rights of any individual whatsoever has been proposed by the senate; on the contrary, you will perceive, by a careful attention to the provisions of the proposed bill as originated by the house of delegates, that the right or privilege of keeping a public or county ferry was limitted to the proprietor of the soil binding on the water, to the exclusion of all other persons; a right or privilege clearly calculated to create a monopoly, contrary to the spirit of the bill of rights, and to prevent that competition so obviously useful to the community. For these reasons we cannot recede from our amendments, and hence, we presume, you will acquiesce with our desire to decline the conference which you have proposed. By order, A. VAN-HORN, clk. Which was read. THE house met. Present the same members as
on Saturday. The proceedings of Saturday |
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Proceedings of the House of Delegates, 1799
| Volume 98, Page 91 View pdf image (33K) |
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