308 



DELAWARE. 



eral supervision over all railroads in the State, 

 and when they think that any railroad combi- 

 nation is violating the State laws and the pro- 

 visions of its charter, they shall inform the 

 president or some officer of the company in 

 the State ; and if ench violation continues, the 

 Attorney- General is to be directed to take such 

 action as is expedient. "Whenever repairs upon 

 any railroad are necessary, or any addition to 

 the rolling stock, etc., or any change in the 

 rates of fare, for the transportation of passen- 

 gers or freight, or other changes are deemed 

 expedient, the Commissioners shall notify the 

 president of such road or some officer in the 

 State, and a report of such proceedings shall 

 be included in the annual report of the Com- 

 missioners. All railroad corporations are re- 

 quired to furnish all information sought by the 

 Commissioners concerning the management and 

 operation of the road ; and copies of its books, 

 leases, contracts, and agreements are to be fur- 

 nished upon application, together with all rates, 

 charges, etc. ; and any discrimination in freight 

 charges against any individual or corporation 

 ehall 1 3 reported to the Governor and to the 

 Attorney-General. Upon refusal to furnish 

 such information and an annual report of the 

 operation of the road sworn to, they shall for- 

 feit $1,000, to be recovered by suit at law in 

 the name of the State. The Commissioners 

 are required to make an annual report, with 

 recommendations, etc. The Commissioners are 

 to draw upon the State Treasurer for $100 per 

 year for expenses of experts, incidentals, etc., 

 and they, with their experts and other agents 

 whom the Commissioners may deem valuable, 

 are to ride over the roads free of charge. 



The bill originated from the complaints of 

 the fruit-growers. Petitions were presented 

 in which it was charged that the Philadelphia, 

 Wilmington, and Baltimore Company had dis- 

 criminated grossly against the fruit-growers, 

 who stated that the charges notwithstanding 

 did not exceed the limit of eight cents allowed 

 in the charter, being only seven and a half 

 cents per mile. One petition from the fruit- 

 growers to the Legislature commences with the 

 statement that, "from Jersey City, the New 

 Jersey Central Railroad has offered to carry car- 

 loads of fruit, ferriage included, at three cents 

 per ton per mile, as against seven and a half 

 cents per ton per mile charged by the Phila- 

 delphia, "Wilmington, and Baltimore and Penn- 

 sylvania Railroads ; a difference amounting to 

 a total, since 1868, of over two million dollars, 

 exacted from the now impoverished fruit-grow- 

 ers," etc., etc. 



The constitutionality of the bill was the chief 

 point in question. Those who denied its con- 

 ' stitutionality urged that one section in the 

 State Constitution provided that the people 

 should be secure in their persons, houses, pa- 

 pers, and possessions from unreasonable search- 

 es and seizures ; and it was claimed that the 

 essential parts of the bill would be decided to 

 eonflict with the prohibition against unreason- 



able searches so far as the Philadelphia, "Wil- 

 mington, and Baltimore Company's books were 

 concerned. As they were kept without the 

 jurisdiction of the State, they could not be de- 

 manded with any force. Reference was also 

 made to a decision of the highest court show- 

 ing the power of legislation against chartered 

 railroad corporations. This was a decision of 

 the State Court of Errors and Appeals made 

 in 1873, upon an appeal taken by the aforesaid 

 railroad company. The circumstances of the 

 case were that the company had charged one 

 Bowers for passage from Philadelphia to "Wil- 

 mington 60 cents, which is at the rate of $0.0189 

 per mile, and on the same day had charged him 

 $1.85 to Port Deposit, which is at the rate of 

 $0.06 per mile; and had charged for freight at 

 the rate of $0.39.33.37 per mile for 9,000 feet 

 of lumber from Port Deposit to Wilmington, 

 and from Newport to Wilmington had charged 

 for the same quantity of lumber at the rate of 

 $1.82 per mile. The Legislature had previ- 

 ously passed an act the fourth section of which 

 was as follows : 



That if the said Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Bal- 

 timore Eailroad Company, or any other railroad com- 

 pany in this State, shall, either as an operator of its 

 own railroad or railroads, or as lessee of other roads 

 within the State, charge and receive a greater rate per 

 mile for the carriage of passengers, or tor the carriage 

 or transportation of goods, wares, or merchandise, or 

 other property whatsoever, from place to place within 

 the State, or from a place within the State to a place 

 without the State, than is charged by euch company 

 for the carriage or passengers and the transportation 

 of property or freignt for like distances, or per mile, 

 from places without the State to places within tho 

 State, or from places without the State through tho 

 State to other places without the State, the person or 

 persons paying such charges, either as fare or freight, 

 shall be entitled to recover irom such company, so 

 charging and receiving the same, a sum of tenfold the 

 amount of money so paid, to be recovered in an action 

 of debt or assumpsit as like amounts are now recovered 

 by law. 



The intention of this act was to prevent dis- 

 crimination in the freight and passenger tariff 

 on the part of the railroads in the State, and 

 Mr. Bowers sought under the act to recover 

 $56.80 before certain justices of the peace, 

 from whose verdict in his favor the company 

 took an appeal as above mentioned. Chancel- 

 lor Bates announced the unanimous opinion 

 of the Court upon an issue taken as to the con- 

 stitutionality of the fourth section above cited 

 of the act. The Court decided that the char- 

 ter of a railroad company was a contract be- 

 tween the State and the company, and under 

 the provisions of the Constitution of the United 

 States, which declared that " no State shall pass 

 any law impairing the obligation of contracts," 

 an act of the Legislature having the effect to 

 abridge or restrict any power or privileges vest- 

 ed by the charter, which were material to the 

 beneficial exercise of the franchise granted 

 without the reservation of the right to pass 

 such an act, and passed without the consent 

 of the company impaired the obligation of 

 the contract and was invalid. The other part 



