The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1874-05-28

| De Vold,as not being Legitimate exercise
of legislative power? This cannot be
maintained for moment. But how isthe
case different when the Legislature subse
quently does the same thingunder pow
er expressly reserved by the Constitution
to alter The charter Under this uniimit-
I'd power OF alteration the Legislature
may certainly enact anything which C, Md
originally have been included iD the char
ter. And who will be bold enough to
say that the LeA isature, il granting a
privilege, may not prescribe the extent
t. which it might be enjoyed In grant
ing monopoly of the carrying business
from A to b, may not the Legislature
prescribe the mode and manner of It's
exercise =? After q franchise has been
granted upon conditions, can the com
pany claim the franchise freed from the
conditions !? All this would he absurd :;
yet it is precisely what results from the
above quotation.
But the proposition I am contending for
does not rest upon reason merely it has
been twice declared by the Supreme
Court of the United States, in well-con-
sidered cases, and no opinion of counse
can shake it.. ..:
| Tn hor ~ Al
case was this: a bank had been organized
under the general banking law, which
provided that the stockholders should not
be individually liable, unless by their
own agreement, but reserved to the State
the right TO "altar or repeal" the act
Subsequently an act was passed, 50 alter
ing the law rs TO make stockholders per-
sonally liable. A more radical change,
one more completely changing the char
acter of the corporation, cannot be imagin-
ed. But the court held the subsequent
oct valid The court by NELSON, j., say
Now the e2d section, which reserved
to the Legislature the power to alter or
repeal the act, by necessary construction,
reserved the power to alter or repeal all
or any of these terms and conditions, or
rules of liability, prescribed in the act
The articles of ASSOCIATION are dependent
upon ard become part of, the law under
/ xHyh sah ha han L J.,
ject to alteration and repeal, the same as
any other part of the general system"
This decision was made N 1861. In
1879. the subject came again before the
Supreme Court in Miller u.s. The State, Is
Wallace, 478. and was argued by very
able counsel. The court, after reviewing
all the authorities from the Dartmouth
College case down, affirmed the doctrine
Of Sherman 0s Smith, IN very long
opinion, which settles the question for
this generation at least.
In the Dartmouth College case, 1
| Wheaton,7l2, Q. j. MARSHALL, speaking
of the power of the Legislature to alter
the charter of a corporation, without the
consent of the corporation, says. "If the
Legislature mean to claim such an authori
| ty, it must be reserved in the grant"
clearly implying that where the reserva
tion is made, such power may be exercis-
cd. 81 3f3fss tsaE.H -#s
In Miller us. The State, Is Wallace,
497, the court say that, "the reservation
is equally valid and effectual, if it exists
in the constitution of the State, or in a
prior general law, 'as it is when embodied
in the charter itself. I'd.
Ansin, in Olcott's case before referred
t., Is Wallace, 694, in which the court
held that railroads in Wisconsin are pub
lie highways, the court, in stating the
grounds upon which that conclusion rest
ed, employ the following emphatic Ian
guage: EJo4q OF ass !!ul10ast
"That the legislature of Wisconsin may
alter or repeal the charter granted to the
Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Railroad
company Is certain. This is a power re-
served by the constitution. THE RAIL
ROAD CAN THEREFORE BE CONTROLLED
AND REGULATED BY THE STATE. It's
USE CAN BE DEFINED; ITS TOLLS AND
RATES FOR TRANSPORTATION MAY RE
LIMITED. Is a work, made by the authori-
ty of the State, subject to its regulation,
and having for its object an increase OF
public convenience, to be regarded as or
binary Oriyate propertv?" - |,