Spring Valley Water Works v. Schottler

Citations

• 110 U.S. 347
• 4 S. Ct. 48
• 28 L. Ed. 173
• 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1702

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law — Corporations.</p> <p>Laws requiring gas companies, water companies and other corporations of like character to' supply their customers at prices fixed by the municipal au: thorities of the locality, are within the scope of legislative power unless • prohibited by constitutional limitation! or valid contract obligation.</p> <p>The Constitution of a State provided that corporations might be formed under general iaws, and should not be created by special act, except for municipal.purposes, and that all laws, general and special, passed pursuant to that provision might be from time to time altered and repealed. A general law was enacted by the legislature for the formation of corporations for supplying cities, counties and towns with water, which provided that the rates to be charged for water should be fixed by a board of commissioners to be ap-. pointed in part by the corporations and in part by municipal authorities. The Constitution and laws of the State were subsequently changed so as to take away from corporations which had been organized and put into operation under the old Constitution and laws the power to name members of the boards of commissioners, and so as to place in municipal authorities the sole power of fixing rates for water: Held, That these changes violated no provision of the Constitution of the United States.</p>