Boise City Artesian Hot & Cold Water Co. v. Boise City

Citations

• 123 F. 232
• 59 C.C.A. 236
• 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 3982

Syllabus

<p>1. Water Companies—Duties—Construction of Idaho Statutes.</p> <p>Rev. St. Idaho 1887, § 2711, relating to corporations formed to supply water to cities or towns and authorized to do so by ordinance, and providing, inter alia, that such companies “must furnish water to the extent of their means in case of fire or other great necessities free of charge,” having been taken from the statutes of California, where it had been so construed by the Supreme Court of the state, requires such companies to furnish water free of charge for street-sprinkling purposes, the flushing of sewers, etc.</p> <p>2. ' Same—Duration of Franchise—Construction of Ordinance.</p> <p>A city ordinance giving a person or company the right to lay and repair water pipes in the streets and alleys of the city, but without fixing any term for the privilege, is a grant of a license only, revocable at the will of the city, since it had no power to grant a perpetual franchise in its streets in the absence of express statutory authority; and the subsequent passage of an ordinance granting the same privilege to a succeeding corporation organized under the laws of the state, but imposing upon the grantee the duty of furnishing water for city purposes free of charge, in accordance with the statutes of the state, operated as such revocation, and, whether accepted by the grantee or not, it could only exercise the privilege thereafter subject to the obligation imposed.</p> <p>8. Same—Subjection to State and Municipal Control.</p> <p>The fact that corporations formed for the purpose of furnishing water to cities or towns are denominated “private corporations” in the statutes of a state does not affect the nature of their rights and duties, nor exempt them from legislative oh municipal control.</p> <p>4. Same—Contracts bt City for Water.</p> <p>The fact that a city, from year to year, entered into contracts with a water company to supply water for city purposes, and paid for the same, or that by reason of such c