Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway Co. v. Welser

Citations

• 233 Pa. 154
• 81 A. 994
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 477

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Reformation of written instrument — Chancellor’s findings of fact — Evidence—Review.</p> <p>1. A chancellor’s findings of fact, upon which a decree is based reforming a written instrument, will not be reversed by the appellate court where three witnesses for the plaintiff testify clearly and precisely to the averments of the bill, while the testimony for the defendants is for the most part evasive and inconclusive.</p> <p>Railroads — Purchase of land — Right of way — Land in excess of requirements — Contract—Corporations— Ultra vires.</p> <p>2. A landowner who has entered into a contract with a railroad company to sell the Company land for its right of way cannot subsequently complain that the contract is illegal because the company purchased more land than it actually required. In such a case it is for the company to determine whether it can secure the necessary accommodation upon better terms by meeting the owner’s demands and purchasing more land than it actually requires, than it can by resorting to condemnation proceedings.</p> <p>3. Corporations are restrained by considerations of public policy from engaging in other business than that for which they are chartered; but a corporation in making sale of what it has acquired for a proper purpose, but for which it has no use, is not engaging in business not permitted by its charter.</p>