Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-06-11
THE RAILWAY QUESTION
Sioans oP'""
the wisconsin Railroad Law

TavIor. of Wisconsin, upon the quesloh Oh
tbo cons,itutionality Of the railway legislation
of last winter:
Tho Constitution of the State provides, Art
~ Soc that corporations may be formed
nnder general laws, but shall not be created by
a special act, except for municipal purposes
and in cases where, in the judgment OF inc
legislature, the objects OF the corporations
cannot be attained under the general laws. All
General laws or special acts enacted under the
provisions of this section, may be altered OF
repealed by the Legislature at any Tune alter
their passage.
II seems TO be conceded on all sides that the
railroads of this State take and hold thelr
franchises subject to this reserved power Oh
alteration or repeal but the precise meaning
of the reservation and what, IL any, llliits
shall he applied 10 il, have led to some dls-
cussiOn and difference of opinion. Since me
decision of the Dartmouth College case, IN
which the Supreme Court OF the United STATES
held that a charter Of incorporation was III li'c
nature Of grant, creating contract beyonu
the power of the Legislature to impair, many
of the States have, by general statutes, speclai
clauses in corporate charters, or by constitu
tional provision, sought To re-estapiish o'e'
corporations the legislative control which,
prevjous to that decision, was supposed TO eX
ist and any construction which so limits TINS
reservation Of poweras to deprive the LeSlsia
ture of all supervision over or right TO regu
late the exercise OF the franchise would fall
far short Of the evident intention OF lts ehhcl,
men, and OF the remedy which II was designed
TO afford against the cncroachments OF power
full corporations. This intent is well ex-
dressed in the case of Tomlinson Us. Jesup-
Is Wall, p. 454.
Mr.. Sloan refers at some length TO certain
well known decisions OF the Wisconsin Su'
preme Court, which he says showed thht tht
Constitution reserved to the Legislature the
right to alter or repeal the charter OF corpora
tons created by it, and insists that these de-
cisons sufficiently show the "opinions enter
tanned by the courts Of our own State as to the
design aud extent Of the reservation, and seem
to warrant the conclusion that there can be nc
such Limitation of the power as is now claimed
under it, or that can affect the validity OF tht
law under consideration, and the adJudicatlor
in the courts Of other States and or The Su
premc Court of the United States Is in entire
harmony with our own, and abundantly sus
tain the legislation of the last session and III
constitutional validity"
In the case in | Paige, p. 1902, where The
Legislature of New Jersey had Incorporated
bank to continue not exceeding tWenty'ont
years, with a proviso that it should he lawtu
for the Legislature at any time to repeal The
charter, as a consideration for the charter th'
sum of So 900 was to be paid by the bank 'C
the Treasurer of the State. The bank WaS
organized in June and it paid into the Treas
ury of the State the S25 900 and commenced
operations In the November following tn,
.1aI b. ant of al
and the court held, Chancellor Walworth de
liyeriug the opinion, not only that the po"e
10 repeal existed under the reservation, bu
that the court would not presume it to hav
been improperly exercised.
Reference is also made to numerous dccs
ions in other States where it had been hell
that, when a reservation similar to the reser
walton in the Wisconsin law existed, 1t quail
fed the franchise, and that the subsoquen
exercise of the reservation was within th'
provision of the Constitution in relation to TIT
inyiolabity OF contract
I'm the case of Tominson against Jesup TIT
Northeastern Railroad Company was iucurpo
rated in 1881 by the Legislature OF the stat
of North Carolina. At that time there was
general law of the State, passed IN ISL, pro
should bc subject to amendment, alteration
or repeal 10y The Legislature. In 1870 au &C
was passed by which the stock OF the compa
ny aud It's real estate should be exempted
from taxation during the continuance of ia,
charter, which vas for the term of MY years
In ISIS Constitution was adopted IN which II
was provided that the property of all corpora
tious should be subject TO taxation. JeSup, q
stock holder in the road, filed bill 70 restrain
b,. IA ntlip
properly of the road. The court held tina
the reservation of power contained IN the la"
of lSll affected the entire relation between til,
State and the corporation, aud placed under
legislative control all rights, privileges auc
immunites derived 10y the charter from In,
State, and MIR Justice Field, in delivering The
opinion of the court, uses this language;
cit is true that the charter of the company
when accepted by the corporators, constituted
a contract between them aud the State anc
that the amendment, when accepted, formed &
part of the contract from that date, and was OF
the same obligatory character; and 1t may b,
equally true, AS stated by counsel, that The
exemption from taxation added greatly to the
value of the stock of the company, and IN
duccd the plaintiff To purchase the shares
held 10y him, but these considerations cannot
hc allowed any weight in determining
the validity OF the subsequent taxa
ton. The power reserved To the
State by the law Of lS4l authorized
any change in the contract as it originally eX
listed or rs suhseq uently modified, or its entire
revocation. The original corpomtors or sub
seQueut stockholders took their interests with
the knowledge OF the existence Of this power
and of the possibility OF its exercise At any
time in the discretion 81 the Le.iSature.n
Mr. Sloan concludes: 1t is, understand
conceded 10y all VINO have given opuiuns hos
lie, a., pri. Il AZ pf b,
constitutional reservation all acts Of ucor
poratiou may Ice absolutely repealed aud The
corporations created by them dissolved. II
the Legislature can thus wholly destroy every
corporation il has created and compel a totu
surrender Of all franchises and privileges, and
of AN power to transact business except such
as may be necessary to convert its property