Decatur Gaslight & Coke Co. v. City of Decatur

Citations

• 120 Ill. 67
• 11 N.E. 406
• 1887 Ill. LEXIS 826

Syllabus

<p>1. City ordinance—construed, as to determining the price of gas. An ordinance of a city giving a gas company the right to lay down and maintain gas pipes in the streets, etc., provided, that in consideration of such grant the gas company should furnish “gas of a quality at least equal to and at rates as favorable as that furnished by the Springfield Gaslight Company, in the city of Springfield. ” In 1867, when the ordinance was passed, the Springfield company charged and received $3.25 per one thousand cubic feet of gas, but since 1884 charged only $1.50 per thousand cubic feet. In a suit by the first named company, it claimed $2 per thousand cubic feet from May 1, 1885, to September 1, 1885: Held, that the rate charged by the Springfield company in 1885 was to be taken as fixing the rate, and not its rate at the time of the passage of the ordinance.</p> <p>2. The provision in the ordinance, to furnish the city with gas at rates as favorable as the Springfield rates, means no more than that gas shall be furnished at “prices as low” as the current rates, from time to time, charged by the Springfield company, irrespective of any circumstances or conditions.</p>