The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-22
CASE DECIDED
 AGAINST GRAY II. and N. Has Right to Operate Road, SOUTH AND NORTH IN DISPUTE Contract to Run Railroad Upheld
 by Supreme Court. t'nanimous Opinion by Appellate Court Holds That Line From stoatEo.n-
 cry to Decatur Is kawfuily
 Operated By Sig
 II system. Aaa.
SOUTH AND NORTH IN DISPUTE

Without a dissenti,iy vote. the Su- preme Court yesterday handed down an opinion holding thu. tine contract by which the Louisville ma Nashville Railroad has for loas srlod of years been operating the south and North Alabama. between Montgomery and Decatur, is entirely legal and vaiid.,
 The decision was rendered in the famous action brought by Henry R. ! Gray, now Lieutenant Governor of Aia- bama, against the Louisville and Nashville, seeking by quo warranto proceedings to have the contract made by the Louisville and Nashville with the South and North directors declared illegal It was sought by MT. Gray, on behalf of minority stockholde.s of the South and North, to oust the Louis vile and Nashville from the control of that road. which now constitutes an important link in the main line of the Louisville and Nashville system.
 The opinion was written by Justices Denson of the Supreme Court, and con- cured in by Chief Justice Tyson and Justices Simpson and Anderson. The opinion, which is a verx. lengthy one. was rendered on appeal from d decision by Judge A. D. Sayre of tine Mont gomery City Court adverse to the rail- road company, and from which it ap- pealed. The Supreme Court now re- verses the case and remands 1t.
 History of the Case.
 The quo warranto proceedings were begun by H. B. Gray against the Louls- vile and Nashville. seeking to oust that company from the operation and control of the South and North Rail- road Company. alleging that the Louis vile and Nashville was operating the South and North unlawfully.
 Demurrers were filed to the petition, and were overruled by Judge SAyre. The Louisville and Nashville filed lsev- enteen pleas by which 1t sought to jus- tify its operation of the South and North road under a contract between the Louisville and Nashville and the South and North directors.
 These pleas were demurred to on the ground that they did not show any justification for such operation. The demurrer was sustained and the Louis- vile and Nashville declined to plead further. The City Court thereupon rem dered a judgment declaring that the Louisville and Nashville was unlawful ly usurping the franchise Of the South and North and ordered that it be busted from a further operation of that road.
 From this judgment the Louisville and Nashville took appeal and 1t was upon this appeal the Supreme Court handed down an opinion that the de- murrers of the Louisville and Nashville should have been sustained. and that the pleas of the defendant in which the Louisville and Nashville sought to jus tify the operation of the road should have been upheld.
 What the Court Holds.
 The effect of the decision is to hold, in the first place, that the petition for a writ of quo warranto by which the proceedings were first set in motion, is insufficient. in that 1t does not charge the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company with unlawfully exercising any particular franchise. and that 1t is necessary in such peti- tion to set out briefly the facts relied upon by the relator to show the usurp- ation of a franchise.
 The opinion, however. goes further and shows that the arrangement which had existed for more than thirty years between the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and the directors of the South and North Alabama Rail- road Company, acquiesced in by It's stockholders during this entire period, is an entirely lawful arrangement un- der Sections 1170 and 1171 of the Code of Alabama, the provisions of which the court holds have become binding upon the North and South Alabama Railroad Company by the acceptance on the part of that company and its stockholders as evidenced by their