Jacksonville, Pensacola & Mobile Railroad v. United States

Citations

• 118 U.S. 626
• 7 S. Ct. 48
• 30 L. Ed. 273
• 1886 U.S. LEXIS 1954

Syllabus

<p>A railroad company, in aid of whose road Congress grants land upon condition that it shall transport mails at such price as Congress may direct, and that until the price be thus fixed the Postmaster-General shall have power to determine the same, is (in the absence of contracts with the department for special service with unusual facilities, or for determined periods) bound to transport mails (until Congress directs the rates) at such reasonable compensation as the Postmaster-General may from time to time prescribe; and the continuance by such company to transport mails after the expiration of the term of a written contract neither implies that it is, after the Postmaster-General has otherwise directed, to be paid the samo rates for transportation which it was paid under the written contract, nor that the contract is renewed for any specific term for which contracts of the Post-office Department may usually be made.</p>