General Legislation in Other States Previous to 185S. 339 
prevailed in the United States early in this century, 1 and, 
in the absence of general legislation, its discontinuance in case 
of railroad bills exerted, perhaps, an unfavorable influence. Had 
each bill been subjected to an examination to the extent, at 
least, of its preamble, it is probable that many a railroad char¬ 
ter could not have become law. It would have kept before leg¬ 
islators the necessity of adopting norms by which a projected 
enterprise should be judged, even though the exact and detailed 
composition of the English preamble had already been aban¬ 
doned. The ease with which the right of way could be obtained 
was undoubtedly one of the strongest factors tending towards 
loose and indiscriminate legislation in this country. In Maine 
general legislation had made such headway that by 1848 char¬ 
ters were granted to railroad companies containing but one or 
several short sections ending with the statement that the com¬ 
pany shall be entitled to “ all the privileges and immunities 
usually granted to such corporations. ” But it is strange that 
in a number of states 2 charters were granted, after general laws 
had been enacted, covering provisions embodied in those laws. 
In many cases the existence of general laws seems to have been 
ignored in the granting of charters. 
In Hew Hampshire 3 a general law, providing for expropria¬ 
tion, railroad crossings, fences, contracts with other railroads, 
was passed in 1843, followed in 1844* by “An Act to render 
Railroad Corporations public in certain cases, and constituting 
a board of Railroad Commissioners. ” The usual contents of a 
preamble were embodied in a provision authorizing commission¬ 
ers to lay out the route only on petition. The state reserved 
certain rights, records were to be open for inspection, and the 
commissioners were to inspect each railroad. Vermont passed 
similar acts in 1846, 1847, and 1849, the latter being a somewhat 
comprehensive general law. Pennsylvania passed a general law 
in 1849, although a number of subsequent charters ignore it. 
1 A preamble of this kind may be found occasionally even after the sev¬ 
enties. 
2 For example, in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Michigan. 
3 Laws of New Hampshire, 1843, Ch. 142. 
*Laws of 1844, Ch. 93. 
