Van Dyke v. Geary

Citations

• 244 U.S. 39
• 37 S. Ct. 483
• 61 L. Ed. 973
• 1917 U.S. LEXIS 1604

Syllabus

<p>In a ease governed by Judicial Code, § 266, where the jurisdiction of the District Court is invoked upon constitutional questions, this court, upon appeal from an order denying preliminary injunction, has jurisdiction to review the whole case. Louisville & Nashville B. B. Co. v. Garrett, 231U. S. 298.</p> <p>Extension of the power of the Corporation Commission to the regulation of water systems belonging to individuals, as provided in the Public Service Corporation Act of Arizona (Rev. Stats., 1913, Title 9, c. XI), is permitted by the Constitution of Arizona, Art. XV.</p> <p>In the absence of an authoritative decision of the Supreme Court of the-State to the contrary, a contemporaneous construction of the state constitution by an act of the legislature which is reasonable in itself and designed to accomplish the obvious purpose of the constitutional provision in question should be followed by this court.</p> <p>Art. IV,, pt. 2, § 13, of the Arizona Constitution requiring that acts of the legislature shall embrace but one subject and matters properly connected therewith, which subject shall be expressed in the title, is sufficiently complied with by the Arizona Public Service Corporation Act, swpra, although that act applies to individuals as well as corporations, while its title refers' to corporations and makes no mention of -individuals.</p> <p>One who uses his property in supplying a large community with water thereby clothes .such property with a public interest and subjects the business to public regulation.</p> <p>Where it is-conceded that the purpose of a water system is to supply water to the residents-' and inhabitants of a particular townsite, though not to outsiders or the public generally, the mere fact that the lots of the townsite were originally purchased from the owner of the water system with the oral understanding that water could be secured from that system for use on the lots has no tendency to support the claim that the system furnishes wate