Pennsylvania Railroad v. Philadelphia County

Citations

• 220 Pa. 100
• 68 A. 676
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 735

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Railroads—Common carriers — Regulation of rates— Acts of April 13, 1846, P. L. 312, April 13, 1846, P. L. 326, and April 5, 1907, P. L. 59 — Confiscation.</p> <p>While the legislature is permitted to alter or revoke the charter of a corporation, it is prohibited from doing so in such manner that injustice will be done to the corporators. Whether the legislature has attempted to enact a measure prohibited by the constitution is for the courts; whether injustice has been done in any particular case is inherently and necessarily a judicial question.</p> <p>The findings of fact of the court below that the Act of April 5, 1907, P. L. 59, in its operation reduced the returns to the shareholders of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company from their property to such an extent as to render the property unremunerative, will not be reviewed by the appellate court, unless shown to be clearly erroneous. In such a case the finding cannot be attacked because the court below confined its inquiry to the passenger traffic instead of taking into consideration the entire traffic of every kind.</p> <p>Even so-called public service corporations are private property organized and conducted for private corporate profit and are entitled to make a fair profit on every branch of their business, subject to the limitation that their corporate duties must be performed even at a loss.</p> <p>Public service corporations in Pennsylvania are entitled to look for a rate of return, if their property will earn it, not less than the legal rate of interest, and a system of charges that yields no more income than is fairly requisite to maintain the plant, pay fixed charges and operating expenses, provide a suitable sinking fund for the payment of debts and pay a fair profit to the owners of the property, cannot be said to be unreasonable.</p> <p>In the operation of an unreasonable statute regulating the rates of railroad companies, the point of injustice may be reached long before that o