Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co. v. Ohio Ex Rel. Pontius

Citations

• 245 U.S. 574
• 38 S. Ct. 196
• 62 L. Ed. 481
• 1918 U.S. LEXIS 2108

Syllabus

<p>Where there are no controlling provisions in state constitution or statutes and no prior adjudication by its courts to the contrary, a franchise for an interurban electric railway, granted by the proper state authority without' limit as to duration, and in the absence of circumstances showing an intention to give or accept a mere revocable right, is a contract not subject to annulment at the wiE of the granting authority.</p> <p>Under the constitution and statutes of Ohio in 1892, county commissioners had power to grant franchises over pubhc roads vaEd for twenty-five years, if not perpetually.</p> <p>A resolution of county commissioners purporting to revoke an electric rafiway franchise, and treated by the state court as having that effect, amounts to state action, and, the franchise not being so revocable, such resolution impairs its obEgation and is void.</p> <p>Upon review of a judgment erronéously treating a franchise as revocable at the will of a board of county commissioners and upholding the board’s resolution purporting to revoke it, the court is not caEed upon to determine whether the franchise term has since expired by limitation, or whether the state legislature (which has not acted) may have reserved power to revoke or repeal the franchise.</p>