GREEN COUNTY
v.
CONNESS

U.S. | 1883-10-29
109 U.S. 104 Supreme Court of the United States (1883) Caution
Also reported at: 27 L. Ed. 872 · 3 S. Ct. 69 · 1883 U.S. LEXIS 937 · SCDB 1883-015
Cited by 25 cases

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Synopsis

Green County sought to challenge bonds issued by the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad Company, arguing that certain rights and franchises did not transfer to the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company when the two companies consolidated in 1870. The Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's judgment, holding that when two railroad companies consolidate under state law authorizing such consolidation, the franchises and privileges of each company pass to the consolidated entity, and the consolidation was not a mere sale that would limit such transfer. The Court declined to reconsider its prior established precedent on the validity of railroad bonds issued under these circumstances.

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Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice Bradley

Mr. Justice Bradley delivered the' opinion of the court..

.Nearly every point in this case has already been decided by this court in the cases of County of Callaway v. Foster, 93 U. S. 567; County of Scotland v. Thomas, 94 U. S. 682; County of Henry v. Nicolay, 95 U. S. 619; County of Schuyler v. Thomas, 98 U. S. 169; County of Cass v. Gillett, 100 U. S. 585; Louisana (City) v. Taylor, 105 U. S. 454; and County of Ralls v. Douglass, 105 U. S. 728. In the case last cited we referred to the previous cases, and to the cases in Missouri which they followed, and said:

“ Such being the condition of the law on this subject do-wn to. April, 1878, we do not feel inclined, to reconsider our former rulings, and follow the later decisions of the Supreme Court of, the State in State v. Garroutte, 67 Mo. 445, and State v. Dallas County, 72 Mo. 329, where this whole line of cases was substantially overruled. The bonds involved in this suit were all in the hands of innocent holders -when the law of the State was so, materially altered by its courts. In our opinion the rights of the parties to this suit are to be determined by the c law as .it was judicially construed to be when the bonds in question were put on the market as commercial paper.’ Douglass v. Pike County, 101 U. S. 677, 687.”

From the views thus expressed we. are not disposed to swerve.

. One point taken in the present case may not have been presented in any of the cases cited, to wit, that the rights', privileges, and franchises of the Kansas City and Oameron Railroad Company were not expressly declared to pass over to the company with which it might become consolidated, by the law authorizing such consolidation. This law was passed March 11-, 1867, and declared as follows:

“It shall be lawful and competent for said company to make such arrangement, with any other railroad-company to furnish equipments and to run and manage, its railroad as it may deem expedient and find necessary, or to lease the same, or to console date it with any other company-upon such terms as may be deemed just and proper.”

In the “ finding of facts ” made by the court, it is, amongst other things, found as follows

“-That under the provisions of an act of the general-assembly, of the State of Missouri, approved May 11th, 1867, entitled, &c., the said corporation, then known as the-Kansas City and Cameron Railroad Company, on the 21st day of February, in the year 1870, was consolidated with the Hannibal and St. .Joseph Railroad Company, and all the rights, privileges, franchises, and property of said Kansas City and Cameron Railroad Company were, by said consolidation, transferred to the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, which then and thereby became the owner of and possessed of the same.”

If only a sale of. the road to "another company had been authorized and made, then it might very plausibly have been contended that the purchasing company took and held it under its own charter only, without the franchises and privileges connected with it in the hands of the vendor company; but “ consolidation.” "is not sale, and when two companies are authorized to consolidate their roads, it is to be presumed that the franchises and privileges of each continue to exist in respect to the several roads so consolidated. This point was considered in the case of Tomlinson v. Branch, 15 Wall. 460, and Branch v. City of Charleston, 92 U. S. 677, and was decided in accordance with this view. This being so, the authority given to consolidate, “ upon such terms as may be deemed just and proper,” would include the power to transfer to the consolidated company the franchises and privileges connected with the road, if the law itself did not have that effect; and the court has found that this was done. We think, therefore, that the point is not well taken.

The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By (12 total)

  • Kuhn v. Fairmont Coal Co., 215 U.S. 349 (U.S. 1910)
    …d that the state decision made the law for the State, and therefore should be given only a prospective operation when contracts had been entered into under the law as earlier declared. Douglass v. Pike County, 101 U. S. 677. Green County v. Conness, 109 U. S. 104. In various instances this court has changed its decision or rendered different decisions on similar facts arising in different States in order to conform to what is recognized as the local law. Fairfield v. Gallatin County, 100 U. S. 47. Whether S…
  • Loeb v. Columbia Twp. Trs., 179 U.S. 472 (U.S. 1900)
    …Ohio Life Ins. and Trust Co. v. Debolt, 16 How. 416, 432; Olcott v. The Supervisors, 16 Wall. 678; Douglass v. County of Pike, 101 U. S. 677; Taylor v. Ypsilanti, 105 U. S. 60, 71; County of Ralls v. Douglass, 105 U. S. 728; Green County v. Conness, 109 U. S. 104, 105; Anderson v. Santa Anna, 116 U. S. 356, 361-2; [*493] German Savings Bank v. Franklin County, 128 U. S. 526, 539; Wade v. Travis County, 174 U. S. 499, 510. It should be here said that the doctrine of prior cases was not in anywise changed or…
  • Keokuk & W. R.R. Co. v. Missouri, 152 U.S. 301 (U.S. 1894)
    …perty, held them alike subject. Other cases to the same effect, and holding that the act of consolidation did not operate as a dissolution of the constituent companies, are Chesapeake Ohio Railroad v. Virginia, 94 U. S. 718; Green County v. Conness, 109 U. S. 104; and Tennessee v. Whitworth, 117 U. S. 139. Upon the other hand, we have held that the consolidation acts of Ohio and Maine worked a dissolution of the constituent companies and the incorporation of a new company, and that such company was subject…

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