State ex rel. City of Tacoma v. Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Citations

• 86 Wash. 309
• 150 P. 427
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 999

Syllabus

<p>Telegraphs and Telephones — Franchises — Power to Grant— Conditions — Statutes—Construction. A city of the first class has power to grant a telephone franchise for the use of the city’s streets and alleys, with any lawful conditions attached against sales or transfers to other companies without the consent of the city, or for forfeiture upon nonperformance of its undertakings, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7507, subd. 7, empowering first class cities to regulate and control the use of streets and alleys and to authorize or prohibit the use of electricity at, in or upon them, and to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which the same may be used and to regulate the use thereof.</p> <p>Same — Franchise—Power to Grant — Statutes—Implied Repeal. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7507, subd. 7, empowering cities of the first class to grant telephone franchises for the use of its streets and alleys, was not impliedly repealed by the enactment of the general telephone franchise act of 1890, Id., § 9300 et seq.</p> <p>Same — Franchises — Conditions — Acceptance. Where a telephone franchise with attached conditions was accepted by the grantee, the franchise itself would be unauthorized if the qualifications and conditions imposed were beyond the power of the city, except as the terms and conditions are deemed subject to the general law.</p> <p>Same — Franchises—Conditions Against Alienation — Validity— Public Policy. A condition in a telephone franchise ordinance that the grantee shall not sell or transfer the franchise or telephone system, except to a corporation to be organized by the original grantee, and expressly forbidding the transfer to any other telephone company without the consent of the city, evidently intended to maintain competition and prevent monopoly, is not void as against public policy, nor ultra vires.</p> <p>Same — Franchises—Conditions Against Alienation — Mortgages —Involuntary Sale. A condition in a telephone franchise ordinance that the grantee shall not sell or