Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. v. People

Citations

• 77 Ill. 443

Syllabus

<p>1. Railboads—liability to penalty for extortion in their charges. To hold a railroad company liable to the penalties provided in the act to prevent extortion, etc., approved May. 3, 1873, on the ground of extortion, it must be shown that it charged more than the maximum rates fixed by the Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners, and until these rates are fixed, no liability can be incurred, under the statute, for unreasonable or extortionate charges, and when made, the taking of the rates named, or less rates, will not incur the penalty, even though the proof shows them to be more than fair and reasonable rates.</p> <p>3. Pleading—declaration for penalty for unreasonable rates. It not being sufficient to charge a railway company, under the statute, with the penalty for charging unreasonable rates, on the ground that they were simply unreasonable and extortionate, without reference to the schedule of rates fixed by the commissioners, a declaration in a suit to recover the penalty is fatally defective, which fails to aver that a schedule of rates had been established as provided for in the statute, and that the defendant had charged in excess of those rates.</p> <p>3. Same—unjust discriminations in freights and charges—declaration. In an action against a railway company, to recover the statutory penalty for making unjust discriminations in its rates of charges of toll and' for freights, the declaration must show that the respective freights mentioned were of like quantity, of the same class, and that, in respect to such freight, there was a higher charge for a less, than for a greater distance. The description of the respective freights merely as one car load of ponies, and one car load of horses, does not sufficiently show them to he “like quantities of freight of the same class.”</p>