Hiawassee River Power Co v. Carolina 8212 Tennessee Power Co, 208

Decision Date22 March 1920
Docket NumberNo. 208,208
Citation252 U.S. 341,64 L.Ed. 601,40 S.Ct. 330
PartiesHIAWASSEE RIVER POWER CO. v. CAROLINA—TENNESSEE POWER CO
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Eugene R. Black, of Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Julius C. Martin, of Asheville, N. C., for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Carolina-Tennessee Power Company, a public utility, was incorporated by a private law of North Carolina with broad powers, including that of taking by eminent domain riparian lands of and water rights in any nonnavigable stream of the state. It filed locations for two hydro-electric plants on the Hiawassee river and proceeded to acquire by purchase and by condemnation the lands and water rights necessary for that development. Thereafter the Hiawassee River Power Company was organized under the general laws of the state and threatened to locate and develop on that river hydro-electric plants which would necessarily interfere with the development undertaken by the Carolina-Tennessee Company. The latter brought in the superior court of Cherokee county a suit in the nature of a bill to quiet title. The case was tried in that court with the aid of a jury. Many issues of fact were raised and many questions of state law presented. A decree entered for the plaintiff below wasr eversed by the Supreme Court of the state and a new trial was ordered. Carolina-Tennessee Power Co. v. Hiawassee River Power Co., 171 N. C. 248, 88 S. E. 349. The second trial resulted also in a decree for plaintiff below which was affirmed by the state Supreme Court. 175 N. C. 670, 96 S. E. 99. The case comes here on writ of error.

The federal question relied upon as giving jurisdiction to this court is denial of the claim that the private law incorporating the Carolina-Tennessee Company is invalid, because it conferred upon that company broad powers of eminent domain, whereas the general law, under which the Hiawassee Company was later organized, conferred no such right; the contention being that thereby the guaranty of the Fourteenth Amendment of privileges and immunities and equal protection of the laws had been violated. But this claim was not presented to nor passed upon by the Supreme Court of the state. The only basis for the contention that it was so presented is the fact that, when the Carolina-Tennessee Company offered in evidence at the trial in the superior court the private law as its charter, objection was made to its admission 'on the ground that the same was in terms and effect a monopoly and a void exercise of power by the state Legislature which undertook to provide it, it being opposed and obnoxious to the bill of rights and the Constitution and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment,' and that the admission of this evidence is among the many errors assigned in the Supreme Court of the state. The law, whether valid or invalid, was clearly admissible in evidence, as it was the foundation of the equity asserted in the bill. No right under the federal Constitution was necessarily involved in that ruling. The reference to the 'bill of rights and the Constitution' made when objecting to the admissibility of the evidence was to the state Constitution and the point was not again called to the attention of that court. Compare Hulbert v. Chicago, 202 U. S. 275, 279, 280, 26 Sup. Ct. 617, 50 L. Ed. 1026. The claim of invalidity under the state Constitution was specifically urged in that court as a reason why the ...

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13 cases
  • United States Tennessee Valley Authority v. Powelson
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • May 17, 1943
    ...96 S.E. 99; Id., 1923, 186 N.C. 179, 119 S.E. 213; Id., 1924, 188 N.C. 128, 123 S.E. 312; Hiawassee River Power Co. v. Carolina-Tennessee Power Co., 1920, 252 U.S. 341, 40 S.Ct. 330, 64 L.Ed. 601; Id., 1925, 267 U.S. 568, 45 S.Ct. 463, 69 L.Ed. 800. 4 See examples and citation of cases in R......
  • Hemphill v. New York
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • January 20, 2022
    ...Moore v. Illinois , 408 U.S. 786, 799, 92 S.Ct. 2562, 33 L.Ed.2d 706 (1972) ; see also Hiawassee River Power Co. v. Carolina-Tennessee Power Co. , 252 U.S. 341, 343, 40 S.Ct. 330, 64 L.Ed. 601 (1920). Federal law does not govern whether a defendant's presentation of his case is "misleading.......
  • Whitney v. People of State of California
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • May 16, 1927
    ...38 L. Ed. 206; Cincinnati, etc., Railway v. Slade, 216 U. S. 78, 83, 30 S. Ct. 230, 54 L. Ed. 390; Hiawassee Power Co. v. Carolina-Tenn. Co., 252 U. S. 341, 343, 40 S. Ct. 330, 64 L. Ed. 601; New York v. Kleinert, 268 U. S. 646, 650, 45 S. Ct. 618, 69 L. Ed. Here the record does not show th......
  • People of State of New York Bryant v. Zimmerman
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • November 19, 1928
    ...38 L. Ed. 206; Cincinnati, etc., railway v. Slade, 216 U. S. 78, 83, 30 S. Ct. 230, 54 L. Ed. 390; Hiawassee Power Co. v. Carolina-Tenn. Co., 252 U. S. 341, 343, 40 S. Ct. 330, 64 L. Ed. 601; New York v. Kleinert, 268 U. S. 646, 650, 45 S. Ct. 618, 69 L. Ed. 1135-Were cited. See, also, Mell......
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