Court Opinion

ID: 9808301
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:33:21.778648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:10:50.242649
License: Public Domain

Douglas, J.,
dissenting. I wished to express my views more fully upon this case, but circumstances which I regret confine me to a few lines. I do not see how the right of eminent domain, one of the sovereign powers 'of the State, can be invoked in favor of railroad consolidation where not a foot of additional road is built and nothing is added to the public convenience. Private property can be taken only for a public use. What use can the public make of the private stock of a corporation aside from its* road-bed and other material property which are already devoted to the use of the public ? Is it not establishing a dangerous principle to permit the consolidation of railroads without the consent of their minority stockholders — dangerous not only to private rights, but equally so to the great economic principle of railroad competition in which the public is so vitally interested ?