Central of Georgia Ry Co v. Wright
| Decision Date | 21 January 1919 |
| Docket Number | No. 30,30 |
| Citation | 40 S.Ct. 1,63 L.Ed. 1123,250 U.S. 519 |
| Parties | CENTRAL OF GEORGIA RY. CO. v. WRIGHT, Comptroller General of State of Georgia |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. T. M. Cunningham, Jr., and A. R. Lawton, both of Savannah, Ga., for plaintiff in error.
Mr. Warren Grice, of Macon, Ga., for defendant in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 520-523 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case it was decided at the last term that the plaintiff in error, the railway company, was exempt from liability to taxation as lessee of certain roads, 248 U. S. 525, 39 Sup. Ct. 181, 63 L. Ed. 401, as it had been decided a few terms earlier that it was exempt from taxation upon the fee of the same roads. Wright v. Central of Georgia R. Co. 236 U. S. 674, 35 Sup. Ct. 471, 59 L. Ed. 781. A rehearing was granted on the question whether the exemption thus adjudged to exist extends to portions of the plaintiff in error's road let to it by the Southwestern Railroad and the Muscogee Railroad, which were assumed to be embraced in the decision but were not specially discussed. The consideration of the court was directed especially to the charter of the Augusta and Waynesboro Rail Road granted in 1838 and having features characteristic of the conception of railroads then entertained. 236 U. S. 678, 679, 35 Sup. Ct. 471, 59 L. Ed. 781. It is argued that the charters of the other lessors just named, granted at a later date, even when limiting the corporation's liability to taxation in similar words, should be construed in a different way.
The charters of the Southwestern and the Muscogee Railroads were not granted until 1845, and while like the earlier ones they provided that the said railway and its appurtenances and all property therewith connected, or the capital stock of the said Rail Road Company, should not be subject to be taxed higher than one-half of one per cent. upon its annual net income, they did not contain the provisions that showed the Legislature in 1838 to contemplate indifferently a revenue derived from using, from sharing, or from letting the special privileges granted—provisions that were of weight in the decision of the Court.
But we are satisfied that between 1838 and 1845 there had been no such change in the policy of Georgia as to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Washington University v. Baumann
...Wright v. Central of Georgia Rys., 236 U.S. 674; Wright v. L. & N. Ry. Co., 236 U.S. 687; Central of Georgia Rys. v. Wright, 248 U.S. 525, 250 U.S. 519. (2) The Missouri decisions support the franchise asserted. State ex rel. v. Trustees of Westminster College, 175 Mo. 52; St. Vincent's Col......
-
Washington University v. Baumann
...Wright v. Central of Georgia Rys., 236 U.S. 674; Wright v. L. & N. Ry. Co., 236 U.S. 687; Central of Georgia Rys. v. Wright, 248 U.S. 525, 250 U.S. 519. (2) The decisions support the franchise asserted. State ex rel. v. Trustees of Westminster College, 175 Mo. 52; St. Vincent's College v. S......
-
In re Central of Georgia Ry. Co.
... ... See Central R. & Banking Co. v. Georgia, 92 U.S. 665, 23 L.Ed. 757; Southwestern R. v. Georgia, 92 U.S. 676, note, 23 L.Ed. 762; Southwestern R. Co. v. Wright, 116 U.S. 231, 6 S.Ct. 375, 29 L.Ed. 626; Wright v. Georgia R. & Banking Co., 216 U.S. 420, 30 S.Ct. 242, 54 L.Ed. 544; Wright v. Central of Georgia Ry. Co., 236 U.S. 674, 35 S.Ct. 471, 59 L.Ed. 781; Central of Georgia Ry. Co. v. Wright, 248 U.S. 525, 39 S.Ct. 181, 63 L.Ed. 401; Id., 250 U.S. 519, ... ...
-
Atlantic Coast Line Co v. Phillips
...35 S.Ct. 675, 59 L.Ed. 788; Central of Georgia R. Co. v. Wright, 248 U.S. 525, 39 S.Ct. 181, 63 L.Ed. 401; Central of Georgia R. Co. v. Wright, 250 U.S. 519, 40 S.Ct. 1, 63 L.Ed. 1123. It is needless to rehearse the issues they involved. Suffice it to say that the prior taxes found to have ......