West End And Atlanta St. R.R. Co. v. Atlanta St. R.R. Co.
| Decision Date | 31 July 1873 |
| Parties | WEST END AND ATLANTA STREET RAILROAD COMPANY, plaintiff in error. v. ATLANTA STREET RAILROAD COMPANY, defendant in error. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Injunction. Corporations. Charter. Statute of limitations. Construction of statutes. Laws. Repeal. Contracts. Before Judge Hopkins. Fulton County. At Chambers. July 30th, 1873.
For the facts of this case, see the decision.
B. F. Abbott; Clark & Goss, for plaintiff in error.
B. H. Hill & Son, for defendant.
This was a bill filed by the complainant against the defendant, praying for an injunction to restrain the defendant from constructing, equipping or operating any street railway in any street of the city of Atlanta. On hearing the motion on the *bill, answer of defendant and exhibitsattached thereto, the presiding Judge granted the injunction prayed for. Whereupon, the defendant excepted.
On the 23d day of February, 1866, the General Assembly of this State passed an Act incorporating the Atlanta Street Railroad Company. By the second section of said Act it is declared, "That said company shall have exclusive power and authority to survey, lay out, construct and equip, use and employ street railroads in the city of Atlanta, subject to the approval of the City Council thereof, for each route selected first had and obtained, before the work thereon shall be commenced." This charter being silent as to the time of its continuance, it will not expire until thirty years from its date: Code, section 1677.
On the 26th day of August, 1872, the Gentral Assembly passed an Act incorporating the West End and Atlanta Street Railroad Company. By the 3d section of that Act it is declared, "That said company shall be entitled to all the powers and privileges of the Atlanta Street Railroad Company, and surbject to the same liabilities and restrictions." That is to say, the West End and Atlanta Street Railroad Company shall have the exclusive power and authority to survey, lay out, construct and equip, use and employ, street railroads in the city of Atlanta, subject to the approval of the City Council thereof, for each route selected, first had and obtained, before the work thereon shall be commenced. It will be noticed that neither company has the exclusive power and authority, under the respective charters, to construct and use any street railroads in the city of Atlanta, until the route has first been selected by it and approved by the City Council thereof.
The complainant alleges that it has already in operation eight miles of street railroad at a cost of $140,000 00, but does not allege on what streets or routes the same have been selected or located, nor is it alleged that any particular street or route has been selected by it for a street railroad in the city and been approved by the City Council, as required by its charter. It is true, the complainant alleges that before *commencing work on said streets, it made an application to the City Council of said city for their approval, according to the terms of the charter, and said city did approve the same in the following words, which is a copy of the ordinance of the City Council: "Authority is hereby granted to the Atlanta Street Railroad Company to construct street railways on any street in the city, and across the bridge on Broad street." On the 27th June, 1873, the defendant petitioned the City Council to allow it to construct and use a street railroad in the city of Atlanta, under its charter, from the passenger depot to the Ponce de Leon Springs, which was granted by the City Council, specifying the route and the streets on which it was to be constructed, which route and streets are not occupied and used by the complain-ant\'s street railroad, and it is the construction and use of a street railroad on this selected route by the defendant, that complainant seeks to enjoin. The complainant insists that under its charter the General Assembly have granted to it the unconditional exclusive franchise to construct and use street railroads in all of the streets of the city of Atlanta, for the term of thirty years, that being the time of the duration of its charter under the law; that, upon the acceptance of the charter by the company, it became an executed contract which the Legislature could not impair by granting another charter to the defendant, and if the Legislature could do so for the benefit of the public, then it could only do it by making just compensation. These general legal propositions contended for are recognized and admitted, provided the complainant has the unconditional, exclusive right of franchise granted to it by its charter, to construct and use street railroads in all of the streets of the city of Atlanta.
It is a well established rule of law, that exclusive grants in derogation of common right, as well as in all cases in which exclusive rights are claimed under a legislative grant to a corporation, that such grant should be strictly construed, that nothing is to be intended beyond the express words contained in it. Applying this rule of construction to the complainant's grant as expressed in its charter, does it give to it the unconditional, *exclusive right to construct and use street railroads in all of the streets of the city of Atlanta for thirty years? Or, is the grant in the charter restricted and limited to the exclusive right to construct and use such street railroads only for each route selected by the company in the streets of the city of Atlanta as may be approved by the City Council thereof? If the complainant's company have the exclusive franchise as claimed under its charter, then it is entitled to the protection of the law, however great a monopoly it may be. The words of the charter are: "That said company shall have the exclusive power and authority to survey, lay out, construct and equip, use and employ, street railroads in the city of Atlanta, subject to the approval of the City Council thereof, for each route selected, first had and obtained, before the work thereon shall be commenced."
In our judgment, there are no words in this charter which grants to the complainant's company the unconditional, exclusive power and authority to construct and use street railroads in all of the streets of the city of Atlanta, but that...
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