Page:Henry Osborn Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations (5th ed, 1905).djvu/425

 PART V.] SUCCESSION. [§ 418. § 417. It is in accordance with these principles that when a corporation or an individual, be he an ordinary pur- „ 1 . i Successor chaser or one who receives the property in the car- assumes rying out of some trust, comes into the possession of former^or- the property and franchises of a corporation, like a P° ratlon - railroad company, exercises the franchises and uses the prop- erty, he thereby assumes towards outsiders a position and re- sponsibility similar to those of the former company. Thus, trustees under a railroad mortgage, who have bought in the road on foreclosure, and are operating it for the benefit of the bondholders, will be regarded, as towards the public, as owners in possession and will be liable as common carriers for all goods transported over the road during their management. 1 Likewise a receiver operating a road, sustains towards the public the re- lation of common carrier, and will be amenable to the common law courts in actions for negligence. 2 §418. A person purchasing the property of a corporation does not necessarily acquire the special privileges of exemptions, 3 and franchises possessed by the corpora- em e p C tions X " tion with respect to its property. 4 Especially the ™^ 110t franchise of being a corporation may not pass ; 5 and 1 Rogers v. Wheeler, 43 1ST. Y. 598; Pearson v. Wheeler, 55 N. H. 41; Sprague v. Smith, 29 Vt. 421. See Farrell v. Union T. Co., 77 Mo. 475. Compare Beeson v. Lang, 85 Pa. St. 197; Stratton v. Europ'n, etc., Ry., 74 Me. 422. 2 Newell v. Smith, 49 Vt. 255. Compare Hopkins v. Taylor, 87 111. 436; Little v. Dusenberry, 46 N. J. L. 614; Klein v. Jewett, 26 N. J. Eq. 474; S. C, 27 N. J. Eq. 550; Blumen- thal v. Brainerd, 38 Vt, 402; Sloan v. Central Iowa Ry. Co., 62 Iowa, 728; Wall v. Piatt, 169 Mass. 398; Burke v. Ellis, 105 Tenn. 702. Seems contra, Cardot v. Barney, 63 N. Y. 281. A claim for personal injuries sustained while the road is in the hands of a receiver is against the funds of the receivership; and the receiver is not personally liable after he has turned over such funds to the purchasers and received his dis- charge. Ryan v. Hays, 62 Tex. 42; Archambeau v. Piatt, 173 Mass. 335. And it seems that the corporation itself will not be liable for injuries received on its road, after the road had passed under the control of a receiver duly appointed, and taking active charge. Bell ». Indianapolis, etc., R. R. Co., 53 Ind. 57; State v. Wabash Ry. Co., 115 Ind. 466; Texas & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Huffman, 83 Tex. 286; Lock v. Turnpike Co., 100 Tenn. 163. But see Indianapolis, etc., R. R. Co. v. Ray, 51 Ind. 269. See § 170. 3 See §§ 487-491. 4 Special privileges conferred on a railroad corporation by special charter, e. g., the right to demand 6 See §§ 131, 132. 405