Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Attorney General of Commonwealth

Citations

• 125 U.S. 530
• 8 S. Ct. 961
• 31 L. Ed. 790
• 1888 U.S. LEXIS 1945

Syllabus

<p>The privilege conferred upon telegraph companies by Rev. Stat. § 5263 carries with it no exemption from the ordinary burdens of taxation in a State within which they may own or operate lines of telegraph.</p> <p>The laws of Massachusetts impose a tax upon the Western Union Telegraph Company on account of the property owned and used by it within that State, the value of which is to be ascertained by comparing the length of its lmes in that State with the length of its entire lines; and such a tax is essentially an excise tax, and is not forbidden by the fact of the acceptance on the part of the company of the rights conferred on telegraph companies by Rev. Stat. § 5263, nor by the commerce clause of the Constitution.</p> <p>The.principles established by the statutes of Massachusetts for regulating the taxation of corporations doing business within its limits, whether domestic or foreign, do not appear to be unfair or unjust.</p> <p>A state statute which authorizes an injunction to be issued to restrain a corporation organized under the laws of another State, whose taxes are in arrear, from prosecuting its business within the State until the taxes are paid, is void so far as it assumes to confer power upon a.court to- so restrain a telegraph company which has accepted the provisions of Rev. Stat. § 5263 from operating its lines over military and' post roads 6f the United States.</p>