St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroad v. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad

Citations

• 145 U.S. 393
• 12 S. Ct. 953
• 36 L. Ed. 748
• 1892 U.S. LEXIS 2148

Syllabus

<p>The statute of Illinois -'of February 12, 1855, empowering all railroad corporations incorporated under the laws of the State to make “ contracts and arrangements with Qach other, and with railroad corporations of other States, for leasing or running their roads,” authorizes a railroad , corporation of Illinois to make a lease of its road to a railroad corporation of another State; but confers no power on a railroad corporation of the other State to take such a lease, if not authorized to do so by'the laws of its own State.</p> <p>A railroad corporation of Indiana is not empowered to take a lease of a railroad in another State by the statute of Indiana of February 23, 1853, c. 85, authorizing any railroad corporation of that State to unite its railroad with a railroad constructed in an adjoining State, and to consolidate the stock of the two companies; or to extend itsT-e.ad into another State; or “ to make such contracts and agreements with any such road constructed in an adjoining State, for the transportation of freight and passengers, or for the use of its said road, as to the boaj$' Qf directors may seem proper.”</p> <p>A lease for nine hundred and ninety-nine years by one railroad corporation of its railroad and franchise to another railroad corporation, which is ultra vires of one or of both, will not be set aside by a court of equity at the suit of the lessor, when the lessee has been in possession, paying the stipulated rent, for seventeen years, and has taken no steps to repudiate or rescind the contract.</p>