International Bridge Co. v. People of State of New York

Citations

• 254 U.S. 126
• 41 S. Ct. 56
• 65 L. Ed. 176
• 1920 U.S. LEXIS 1199

Syllabus

<p>1. In an action to recover penalties from a bridge company for failure to build foot and carriage ways upon its railway bridge as required by an act amending its charter, it is premature to inquire whether a distinct and independent provision, reducing the tolls chargeable for vehicles and pedestrians below the limits fixed in the charter, impairs the obligation of the charter contract, since the invalidity of the toll reductions would not affect the requirement to build the additions. P. 130.</p> <p>2. Under acts of New York and Canada consolidating a New York with a like Canadian corporation, the new company constructed a bridge over the Niagara River for railroad uses only. The original charters provided for constructing foot and carriage ways also, that of New York in permissive but that of Canada in mandatory language, and the acts of consolidation bound the new company to all the duties of each of its constituents. Held: (1) That the new company had no charter contract immunity from being required to add the foot and carriageways in New York under power reserved by the State to amend the charter, arid that such requirement was not inconsistent with the contract clause of the Constitution; nor, in the absence of anything to show that the additions would not yield a reasonable return, could it be held to violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Id.</p> <p>3. The Act of June 30, 1870, c. 176, 16 Stat. 173, in recognizing as a lawful structure any bridge constructed across the Niagara River in pursuance of New York Laws, 1857, c. 753, and amendments (Laws 1869, c. 550), subject to the supervision of the Secretary of War and his approval of the'plans, recognized that the existence of the bridge company and its right to build on New York land came from New York; and the facts that the bridge when built, as a railroad bridge only, was devoted wholly to international commerce and that Congress by the Act of June 23, 1874, c. 475,18 Stat. 275, declared it a lawful structur