Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. State

Bartol, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. These seven appeals involve the same questions of law, and have been argued together. They arise upon suits brought by the appellee to recover from the appellant, one-fifth of the whole amount of moneys received by the appellant • fo.r the transportation of passengers on the Wasbingtom Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from January 1st 1870 to July 1st 1875. Ko questions are raised on the pleadings; the cases were heard and determined by the Circuit Court without the aid of a jury; and the questions of law were raised in the form of prayers, of which one offered by the plaintiff was granted, and seven offered by the defendant were rejected, to this ruling of the Circuit Court the defendant excepted, and also to the rejection of‘certain evidence offered on its behalf.

The right of the State to recover one-fifth of the passenger fares received by the Railroad Company on its Washington Branch, has been established by the decision of this Court (State vs. B. & O. R. Co., 34 Md., 344 ,) and by the Supreme Court in the same case, 21 Wallace, 456. ⁶¹⁰ The constitutionality of the Acts of Assembly constituting the contract between the State and the Railroad Company was decided by both Courts. The defence to the present suits is based on three propositions : 1st. That the charter of the appellant constituted a contract, by which the State hound itself not to charter another Railroad Company with power to make a railroad between the cities of Baltimore and Washington, and that the subsequent charter by the State of the Baltimore and Potomac Company, and the actual construction by the latter company of a railroad between those cities, was in violation of the contract made by the State with the appellant. 2nd. That the portion of the road on which one-fifth of the passenger fares was reserved, does not include the part of the road between Baltimore and the Relay House. 3rd.

That it does not include that part of the road between the District line and Washington City. First. — The supposed contract of the State, which it is alleged was violated by chartering the Baltimore and Potomac Company, is not found in express terms in the charter of the appellant, or in any of the supplements thereto; but it is contended that it exists by implication arising from the 8th section of the Act of 1831, ch. 330. This Act .is supplementary to the Act of 1830, ch. 158, by which power had been given to the appellant to construct the Washington Branch road. The 8th section contains these words: “And if the said company shall not complete the said road with at least one set of tracks, so as to he used and travelled on from the commencement of it as authorized by this Act, to the District of Columbia, within three years after the commencement of the actual construction, the Legislature hereby reserve the right to incorporate another company, or to authorize any other persons in ⁶¹¹ their discretion to lay out and make a . railroad on, and over any ground, and in any direction between the city of Baltimore and the District of Columbia, anything in this Act, or in the Act to which it is a supplement, to the contrary notwithstanding.” The argument of the appellant is that the effect of this section was to create a contract, prohibiting the State from authorizing the construction of any other railroad between Baltimore and Washington, provided the appellant should complete its road within the time prescribed by the Act.

This is not expressed in the words of the section; they declare what is reserved by the State, and do not surrender any right or power belonging to the State. It would be contrary to well settled rules of construction to hold that the sovereign power of future Legislatures has been surrendered by implication. The principle is well established that “ Charters are to be construed most favorably to the State, and that in grants by the public nothing passes by implication.” Charles River Bridge vs. Warren Bridge, 11 Peters, 544 . As said by the Supreme Court: “The principle is this ; that all rights which are asserted against the State must be clearly defined and not raised by inference or presumption.

Binghampton Bridge, 3 Wal., 75.” And in Jefferson Br. Bank vs. Shelly, 1 Black, 446 , the same Court said : “that neither the right of taxation, nor any other power of sovereignty, will be held, by this Court, to be surrendered, unless such surrender has been expressed in terms too plain to be mistaken.” This rule of construction of public grants and charters has been universally accepted as sound. Applying it to the present case, we do not find in the section above quoted, any such contract on the part of the State as is now maintained by the appellant. If however the section could be susceptible of the construction put on it by the appellant, it would afford no answer or defence to ⁶¹² these suits.

The railroad was not constructed under, or in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1831, ch. 330. The scheme thereby devised proved a failure, and it became necessary for the Legislature to pass the Act of 1832, ch. 175, which was accepted by the company and under which the Washington Branch was constructed. By this Act the State relinquished valuable rights which she had under the previous laws, and by section 8, the company contracted to pay the one-fifth of the passenger fare. Sec. 12 provides that the time limited by the 8th section of the Act of 1831, ch. 330, for the commencement and completion of the road shall he extended to the time therein