Mastin v. Pacific Railroad

Citations

• 83 Mo. 634

Syllabus

<p>1. Railroad: subscription to stock: statute. It was competent for the legislature while authorizing the counties by the general railroad law of 1853 (Laws 1853, p. 121) to subscribe to the capital stock of railroads and to impose special taxes for the purpose of paying such subscription, to declare whether the stock subscribed for should belong to the county in its corporate capacity, or to the-taxpayer.</p> <p>2. —-:-:--. Nor would it have been incompetent for the-legislature to give the stock in such case to the taxpayer, although the charter of the railroad to which the subscription was made was granted prior to the general railroad law of 1853, and such charter gave the absolute ownership of the stock subscribed by the county to the latter in its municipal character.</p> <p>3. Railroad: county subscription to stock : question op pact. Whether a subscription by the county court of Jackson county of $200,000, made September 3, 1860, to the capital stock of the Pacific Railroad Company was made under the charter of the railroad, or under the general railroad law of the state then in force giving the stock to the taxpayer to the extent of the special taxes paid by him-, towards satisfaction of the subscription; held to be a question of fact to be determined from all the evidence bearing upon the acts- and conduct of the parties to the subscription ; also, held that the-finding of the trial court that said subscription was made under the general railroad law was well supported by the evidence.</p> <p>4. Railroad: stock, right to : statute. The taxpayer had the exclusive right to the stock due from the company under a subscription to its stock made under the general railroad law, and it could not be issued by the railroad to any one else.</p>