Soule v. San Francisco Gas-Light Co.

Citations

• 54 Cal. 241

Syllabus

<p>State Harbor Commissioners — Toms — Construction — Definition. — The rate of toll prescribed by the State Harbor Commissioners for coal is ten cents per ton, but a reduced rate is allowed for merchandise landed upon wharves, and taken thence in lighters cr other vessels, or warehoused without drayage. Defendants’ coal was removed from their wharf by cars run upon a railway supported by timbers resting upon the wharf. Held, in an action for the tolls, that the difference between the two rates was intended to cover the wear and tear of wharves by the passage of loaded means of conveyance, whether wagons, drays, or cars; and that the defendant (who was bound, by the terms of its lease from the Harbor Commissioners, to pay the same rates as are charged at other wharves) was not entitled to the reduction.</p>