Railroad Company v. Commissioners
| Citation | 26 L.Ed. 359,103 U.S. 1 |
| Parties | RAILROAD COMPANY v. COMMISSIONERS |
| Decision Date | 01 October 1880 |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr. William H. Tuck and Mr. Montgomery Blair for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. Henry Aisquith and Mr. Charles J. M. Gwinn, Attorney-General of Maryland, contra.
The Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad Company was incorporated by an act of assembly of Maryland, passed March 21, 1837. Sect. 5 of its charter is as follows:——
'And be it enacted, that the president and directors of the said company shall be, and they are hereby, invested with all the rights and powers necessary to the construction and repair of a railroad from the city of Annapolis, to connect with the Baltimore and Washington railroad, not exceeding sixty feet in width, with as many sets of tracks as the said president and directors, or a majority of them, may think necessary; and for this purpose the said president and directors may have and use all the powers and privileges, and shall be subject to the same obligations, that are provided in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, and twenty-third sections of the aforesaid act, entitled 'An Act to incorporate the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company."
The capital stock of the company was fixed at $450,000, the State taking $300,000, on which a payment of at least six per cent per annum was to be guaranteed by the company. None of the sections of the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Company referred to, except the eighteenth, have any special bearing on the present case. They related entirely to the powers and privileges necessary to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the road. Sect. 18, on which the case depends, is as follows:——
'And be it enacted, that the said president and directors, or a majority of them, shall have power to purchase with the funds of said company, and place on any railroad constructed by them under this act, all machines, wagons, vehicles, or carriages of any description whatsoever, which they may deem necessary or proper for the purposes of transportation on said road, and they shall have power to charge for tolls upon (and the transportation of persons) goods, produce, merchandise, or property of any kind whatsoever, transported by them along said railway from the city of Baltimore to the Ohio River, any sum not exceeding the following rates, viz.: On all goods, produce, merchandise, or property of any description whatsoever, transported by them from west to east, not exceeding one cent a ton per mile for toll, and three cents a ton per mile for transportation; on all goods, produce, merchandise, or property of any description whatsoever, transported by them from east to west, not exceeding three cents a ton per mile for tolls, and three cents a ton per mile for transportation, and for the transportation of passengers not exceeding three cents per mile for each passenger; and it shall not be lawful for any other company, or any person or persons whatsoever, to travel upon or use any of the roads of said company, or to transport persons, merchandise, produce, or property of any description whatsoever, along said roads, or any of them, without the license or permission of the president and directors of said company; and that the said road or roads, with all their works, improvements, and profits, and all the machinery of transportation used on said road, are hereby vested in the said company, incorporated by this act, and their successors, forever; and the shares of the capital stock of the said company shall be deemed and considered personal estate, and shall be exempt from the imposition of any tax or burthen by the States assenting to this law.'
Under the last clause of this section it was held at an early day, by the Court of...
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