IM 



ILLINOIS. 



thereof, and any road or roads which any railroad 

 corporation has the right, license, or permission to 

 use, operate, or control, wholly or in pan, within thin 

 State: Prondtd, kotcwtr, That notluug Ju-nin con- 

 tained shall be so construed as to prevent ruilruad 

 corporations from issuing commutation, excursion, 

 or thousand-mile tickets, as tho same ore now issued 

 by such corporations. 



Sic. 4. Any such railroad corporation guilty of 

 cxturtiun, or of making any unjust discrimination as 

 to passenger or freight rates, or the rates fur the use 

 and transportation of railroad-cars, or in receiving, 

 handling, or delivering freights, shall upon convic- 

 tion thereof be fined in any sum not less than one 

 thousand dollars ($1,000), nor more than five thou- 

 sand dollars ($6,000), for the first offense; and for 

 the second offense not less than five thousand dollars 

 (|5.000), nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,- 

 000) ; and for the third offense not less than ten thcu- 

 sand dollars ($10,000), nor more than twenty thou- 

 sand dollars ($20,000); and for every subsequent 

 offense and conviction thereof, shall be liable to a 

 fine of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) : fro- 

 tided, That in all oases under this act either party 

 shall have the right of trial by jury. 



Sections fire and nine relate to the mode of 

 procedure, section eleven repeals the law of 

 1871, and section ten defines the term " rail- 

 road corporation " contained in this act " to 

 mean all corporations, companies, or individ- 

 uals, now owning or operating, or which may 

 hereafter own or operate, any railroad, in whole 

 or in part, in this State ; and the provisions of 

 this act shall apply to all persons, firms, and 

 companies, and to all associations of persons, 

 whether incorporated or otherwise, that shall 

 do business as common carriers upon any of 

 the lines of railways in this State (street-rail- 

 ways excepted), the same as to railroad corpo- 

 rations hereinbefore mentioned." 



The other sections were as follows : 



Sicnox fl. If any such railroad corporation shall, 

 in violation of any of the provisions of this act, ask, 

 demand, charge, or receive of anv person or corpora- 

 tion, any extortionate charge or charges for tlie trans- 

 portation of any passengers, goods, merchant 

 property, or for receiving, handling, or delivering 

 freight!), or shall make any unjust <i 

 against any person or corporation in lUoharpeathere- 

 f'r, the person or corporation so offended against msy, 

 for each offense, recover of such railroad corporation, 

 in any form of action, three times the amount of the 

 damages sustained by the party aggrieved, together 

 with cost of suit and a reasonable attorney's f 

 be fixed by the court where the same is heard, on ap- 

 peal or otherwise, and taxed as a part of tho costs of 

 the case. 



8o. 7. It shall be the duty of thi> railroad nnd ware- 

 house commissioners to personally investigate and 

 ascertain whether the provisions of this net are vio- 

 lated by any railroad corporation in thin Stale, am) to 

 visit th'c various stations upon tho line of each rail- 

 road for that purpose, as often as practicable ; ami 

 whenever the facts in any manner ascertained by 

 aaid commissioners, shall in their judgment warrant 

 such prosecution, it shall be the duty of mid com- 

 missioners to immediately cause suit* t 

 menoed snd prosecuted against any railroad corpora- 

 tions which may violate the provisions of this act. 

 Such suits and prosecutions may be instituted in any 

 county in this State, through or into wli' 



railroad corporation -lied for violating this act 



may extend. And such mil n>nd nnd warehouse com - 



ners arc hereby authorized, when the facts of 



the case presented to them shall, in their judgment, 



warrant tho commencement of such action, to cm- 



ploy counsel to assist the Attorney -General in conduct- 

 ing such suit on behalf of the .-:..;-. .V 

 commenced by said coinnii-si< -ner sm.li I.,- ,iis- 

 1. except said railroad and ward. 

 ners and the Attorney-General shall e> 

 thereto. 



SEC. 8. The railroad and warehouse commission- 

 ers are hereby directed to make, for each of the rail- 

 road corporations doing business in this Mute, as 

 soon as practicable, a schedule of reasonable maxi- 

 mum rates of charges for the transportation <>i ] :i~- 

 sengers and freight and cars on em -h ot mi<l rail- 

 roads ; and said schedule shall, in all suit- brought 

 against any such railroad corporations, when in are in 

 any way involved the charges of any such railroad 

 corporation, for the transportation oi nny pu-s, nger, 

 or freight or cars, or unjust discrimination in rela- 

 tion thereto, be deemed and taken, in all courts of 

 thi.- Stute, us prima-facit evidence tlmt tlie rates 

 therein fixed are reasonable maximum rates of charges 

 for the transportation of passengers mid freights and 

 cars upon the railroads for which -uid schedules may 

 have Decn respectively prepared. Said commis- 

 sioners shall, from time to time, and as often as cir- 

 cum.-tuno .- muv require, change and revise said 

 schedules. When any schedules shall have 

 made or n-visi d, as aforesaid, it shall he the duty of 

 said commissioners to cause publication tin i- ' 

 made for three successive weeks, in some public 

 newspaper published in the city of Springfield, in 

 this State : livriJiJ, 1 hut the schedules thus pre- 

 pared shall not be taken as prima-facit evidence as 

 lierein provided until schedules shall have bei i 

 pared and published us aforesaid for all the railroad 

 companies now organized under tlie laws of this 

 State, and until the Ifith day of January, A. n. 

 1874. or until ten days after the meeting of the next 

 session of this General Assembly, provided a PC-MI n 

 of the (imcral Assembly shall be held previous to 

 the 15th day of January aforesaid. 



AH such schedules, purporting to be printed and 

 published as aforesaid, shall be received and held, in 

 all such suits, as printa farit the schedules of said 

 eomtnUsloners, without further proof than the pro- 

 duction of the paper in which they were published] 

 together with the certificate of the' publisher of faid 

 paper that the schedule' therein e< nlained is | 

 cojiv of the schedule furnished for publication by 

 said" commissioners, and that it has been puhli-1 . .1 

 the above specified time : and any such paper, pur- 

 porting to have been published at said citv, and to 

 be a public newspaper, shall be prcsmm <I to have 

 hem so published at the date thereof, and to be a 

 public newspaper. 



SKC. 9. In all cases under the provisions of this 

 act, the rules of evidence shall le the same as in 

 other civil actions, except as hercinbefoi 

 provided. All fines recovered under the provisions 

 of this act shall be paid into tlie county treasury of 

 the county in which the suit is tried, by the ] 

 collecting'thc same, ill the manlier now provided by 

 law, to be u-c<l for county purposes. The ren 

 herebv given shall be regarded as cumulative to tho 

 remedies now given bv law against railroad corjK>ra- 

 tions. and this act shall not hi c> n-tnied as repealing 

 any statute giving such remedies. Suits commenced 

 under the provisions of this act shall have i 

 over all other business, except criminal bu- 



TMs law went into effect July 1st. nnd tlu-n- 

 seems to have boon n (:cncriil dispo.-ition on 

 tin- part of the railroad companies to conform 

 to it. at Icnst until its constitutionality should 

 be tested. New schedule-- \M ri\ tlnn 

 I>r<'|>arrcl hy the companies, nnd went into 

 operation simultaneously with the law. 



Toward tin- chw of the yenr an action was 

 hocrtin at Frccport by the Attnrncy-Gcnernl in 

 behalf of the railroad and warehouse commis- 



