The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-20

Russell Coming Here Tuesday
to Consult About It.
NEW PHASE Or QUESTION
IRIS Canstlsutionality is Now
Questioned.
DOES ossARTsR expire IN 1903

DOES CHARTER expire IN 1903
There Are Good lawyers Who Hold
yAsat It Ooss~ A Law Passed in
1915 Limited All Charters
to sixty Years.
Nudge Russell will be here TUESDAY.
aYa will reach Raleigh Tuesday afternoon
.ana remain two days. He comes ostensl-
hly to confer with his party associates AZ
,rapard to the date of the anaugurauon
and it's attendant ceremonies
His mosH important business, however
10 to consult with prominent attorneys
here in regard to the validity OF the tease
of the North Carolina Railroad 70 the
Southern Railway for "a term OF hlhety-
nine wears. It is we'll known that Judge
Russell is opposed TO this lease and VIII
do his best to break ii sip. He has had the
GOOD sense to see that the people are
onnosed to it, and to realize tAat It's an
.r,4lment would do aaore to make his adj
.rn;nistration popular with al classes and
,,,,e rites than any other dozen things he
could do.
II is q lsy tassK-this fight against
powerful fion-.bat he has set
himself to do it. and if tn re is any law to
nreyent the lease he will ind it and put II
into operation He is row simply trying
70 find out the most vulnerable points ia
the lease.
His investigation eff the matter has
brought out = new paslse of the question.
now published for the first time, and ne
come to Raleigh Tuesday to find out Row
it will stand the test of judicial exam
ination and criticism.
1t is proposed now to attack the con-
stitutienality Of the lease on the ground
that the charter eof the North Carolina
Railroad expires aoy statutory limitation
in 1909
In the charter of the North 6aE>oina
Railroad no leasth Of time for the exist
once ~ Transportation is mentioned.
Sectia. Is of the charter, after granting
the corporate rights and privileges usual
" given to railroads, says that the North
Carolina Railroad Company SHAH haze
R,T the Lerisla tune OF 1886 passed the
Following Act concerning bodies corporate
in this Stats:
..1hatano body corporate, hereafter to
he established in this State, shall exist
for a longer term than sixty years, unless
otherwise provided in the act creating the
same"
This was copied verbatim into ithe Re
yised Code QS54), chapter 20, section 70,
and again in 1883 it was brought forward
inso yhe Code. 1t is now the law, and
has been ever since 1896 about thirteen
years before the North Carolina Railroad
was chartered.
Now here is q. seeming contradiction
which must, if possible, be settled by con-
struetion 1t is rule of construction
by the courts that nothing can be taken
BIZ implication against the State. Legis-
latiye charters are to be construed most
fawerably by the State and in grants
by the public nothing passes by irnplica-
ton. In other words, the rights that are
asserted against State must be clearly
defined, and not raised by inference or
presumtion. Wherever a charter IS
silent about a power IT does not exist
If, upon a fair reading OF the instrument,
reasonable doubts arise as to the proper
Interpretation to be given to ii, those
doubts are to be solved in favor of the
State, and where ii is susceptible. OF two
meanings, that construction is adopted
which works the least harm to the State.
dignity in the charter, as the advocates
and makers of the present lease claim,
and the powers conferred are plainly
marked, and their hmits can be readily
asoertained, then it is the duty of the
court to uphold it, and to carry out the
true meaning and intention OF the parties
to it-provided it is not inconsistent
with the Constitution and laws of the
United States and tire State of North
EardJlna.'
This Judge Russell and other oppo-
nents Of the lease sag is the ease. The
Supreme Court of the United States has
held that the Legislature of a State has
power to grant perpetual charter, but
such s. grant is contrary to the provisions
Of the Constitution OF North Carolina
and WILL not hold good. Article Of the
State Constitution provides as follows:
See. 60 No hereditary emol,nnents,
privileges or honors ought to be granted
or conferred in this State.
''Sec. 81 Peretuities ard monopolies
are contrary to the genius OF a free State,
and ought not to be allowed
1t is very clear that if the Legislature
were to aaIempt to grant special priv
ileges to dozen or a half dozen men
and their families perpetually, it would
be contrary to these two sections, and
would, therefore, be null and void.
Where those half dozen or dozen people
combine and under the law constitute
themselves an artificial person, or cor
.psration. was il intended that the dozen,
ne one artificial person, should enjoy priv
ileges in perpetuhy that they are prohibit
ed from enjoying as natural persons2
This is phase of the lease question
that Judge Russell is now studying, and
one that he comes here Tuesday to lay be-
fore his party associates and some well
known attorneys.