Baltimore, C. & A. Ry. Co. v. City of Ocean City

• Citation: 42 A. 922,89 Md. 89
• Parties: BALTIMORE, C. & A. RY. CO. v. MAYOR, ETC., OF OCEAN CITY.
• Decision Date: 14 March 1899
• Court: Court of Appeals of Maryland

42 A. 922

89 Md. 89

BALTIMORE, C. & A. RY. CO. v. MAYOR, ETC., OF OCEAN CITY.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

March 14, 1899

Appeal from circuit court, Worcester county; Charles F. Holland and Henry Lloyd, Judges.

Action by the mayor and city council of Ocean City against the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Company. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Argued before MCSHERRY, C.J., and BRISCOE, PAGE, ROBERTS, PEARCE and SCHMUCKER, JJ.

Robert P. Graham, N. C. Fitch, and N. P. Bond, for appellant. Jas E. Ellegood, George W. Purnell and Oliver D. Collins, for appellee.

BRISCOE J.

This is a suit brought by the mayor and city council of Ocean City Md., against the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Company, to recover certain taxes alleged to be due and unpaid by the defendant company. The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, and, the judgment being for the plaintiff, the defendant has appealed. It appears that the defendant is a corporation formed under sections 187-190 of article 23 of the Code of Public General Laws for the purpose of "owning, possessing, maintaining, and operating a railroad in this state" formerly known as the Baltimore & Eastern Shore Railroad; the latter road having been formed under the general incorporation laws of the state. By the act of 1886 (c. 133) the powers of the Baltimore & Eastern Shore Railroad were enlarged, and "its franchises, property shares of capital stock, and bonds" were exempt from all state, county, or municipal taxation for the term of 30 years, accounting from the date of the completion of the road, between the termini mentioned in its charter; that is, between Eastern Bay, in Talbot county, and the town of Salisbury, in Wicomico county. This road was completed on or about the 1st of August, 1891. By section 5 of the act the Baltimore & Eastern Shore Railroad was authorized "to lease or purchase and operate any railroad or railroads," either in or out of this state, for the purpose of carrying on their business; and any other railroad company in this state was also authorized to lease or sell its railroad or other property to this road. In pursuance of this power, the Baltimore & Eastern Shore Railroad, on the 30th of June, 1890, purchased the property known as the Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad, a road about 30 miles long, extending from Salisbury to Ocean City, and thus consolidating the two roads. Afterwards, in August, 1894, these two roads, as thus consolidated, together with their property rights, were sold by a decree of the circuit court of the United States for the district of Maryland under certain mortgage foreclosure proceedings, and were purchased by Mr. Nicholas P. Bond, of Baltimore city, who, subsequently with others, formed the defendant corporation, the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Company. So the principal question presented by this appeal is whether the property formerly owned by the Wicomico & Pocomoke Railroad, situate in the town of Ocean City, and now owned by the appellant company, is exempt from taxation, under section 2 of chapter 133 of the Acts of 1886.

Now, as we have seen, the act of 1886 provided for the building and working of a railroad from the shores of Eastern Bay, in Talbot county, to Salisbury, in Wicomico county, passing through the counties of Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, and Wicomico; and it is quite clear, we think, that it was only such property as is necessary for the operation of this road that the legislature intended to exempt from state, county and municipal taxation for the term of 30 years from the date of the completion of the road. It means the railroad and its property mentioned in the act, and none other. It is admitted that the Wicomico &...