Stone v. Southern Illinois & Missouri Bridge Co.

Citations

• 206 U.S. 267
• 27 S. Ct. 615
• 51 L. Ed. 1057
• 1907 U.S. LEXIS 1161

Syllabus

<p>Whether the statutes, of a State authorize the incorporation, of a bridge company to construct a bridge over a navigable river separating it from another State; whether such statutes confer the right of eminent domain on a corporation of another State, and whether such a corporation can exercise therein powers other than, those conferred by the State of its creation, are all questions of state law, involving no Federal questions, and the rulings of the. highest court of the State are final and conclusive upon this court.</p> <p>The act of January 26, 1901, 31 Stat. 741,.having authorized the construction :by- an Illinois corporation of a .bridge and approaches across the Mississippi River, it is within the power1 of one of the States within which the bridge was.constructed'to authorize extensions thereof and connections therewith necessary and proper to make it available for the use contemplated by the statute, and although such extensions and connections were not within the plans and specifications of the bridge itself and its approaches as approved by the Secretary of War, the condemnation of land necessary for the bridge company to construct them is not in contravention of § 9 olf the act of March 3, 1899, 30 Stat. 1151, making it unlawful to deviate in the construction of any bridge over navigable waters from the plans approved by the Secretary of War.</p>