City of Des Moines v. Des Moines City Railway Company
| Decision Date | 17 May 1909 |
| Docket Number | No. 171,171 |
| Citation | 214 U.S. 179,53 L.Ed. 958,29 S.Ct. 553 |
| Parties | CITY OF DES MOINES, Appt., v. DES MOINES CITY RAILWAY COMPANY |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. William H. Baily, William H. Bremner, Howard J. Clark, and R. O. Brennan for appellant.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 179-182 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Nathaniel T. Guernsey, William L. Read, George H. Carr, Alonzo C. Parker, and William E. Miller for appellee.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 182-183 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:
This is a bill brought in the circuit court by an Iowa corporation against a city of Iowa. The ground of jurisdiction is that a resolution of the city council of that city is a law impairing the obligation of contracts within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States, and, if carried out, will take the property of the corporation without due process of law, contrary to the 14th Amendment. The circuit court granted an injunction against the enforcement of the resolution, and the defendant appealed to this court.
The plaintiff, the appellee, sets up, under a certain ordinance, a right, unlimited as to time, to construct, maintain, and operate an electric street railway in and over the streets, alleys, and bridges of Des Moines. The resolution alleged to impair these rights is as follows:
'Whereas: Questions have been raised as to the rights of the Des Moines City Railway Company and the Interurban Railway Company to maintain their tracks and operate their lines upon and along and over the streets and bridges and public places of the city of Des Moines; and
'Whereas: It is essential to the preservation of the rights of the city of Des Moines that such questions be determined as speedily as possible 'Be it resolved by the city council of the city of Des Moines: That said companies be, and they are hereby, ordered to remove all of their tracks, poles, and wires from the streets, bridges, and public places of the city of Des Moines, and to restore and repair the surface and pavement, where paved, of all of the streets along which they they are now operating their lines, and said companies are hereby ordered to commence said removal within twenty-five days after the passage of this resolution.
'Be it further resolved: That should the said railway companies fail to commence such removal within the time above specified the city solicitor be, and he is hereby, instructed to take such action as...
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...v. Kansas City (C. C.) 65 Fed. 691. The former of these cases was dismissed by the Supreme Court of the United States in 214 U. S. 179, 29 Sup. Ct. 553, 53 L. Ed. 958, for want of jurisdiction, and is therefore not an authority; and the latter, if it decides the point at all, is not persuas......
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