Page:Henry Osborn Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations (5th ed, 1905).djvu/494

 § 476a.] THE LAW OF PRIVATE CORPORATION'S. [CHAP. VIII. § 47G«. Munn v. Illinois 1 is the leading case on the power of the state to regulate charges for the use of property devoted Elevator t° a public use. It decided that the legislature road Rail " C0lH( l regulate the charges for storing grain de- charges, manded by the owners of grain elevators in large cities. Similar considerations arise with regard to the right of legislatures to limit tolls charged by railroad companies. " Railroad companies are carriers for hire. They are incor- porated and given extraordinary powers in order that they may the better serve the public in that capacity. They are, therefore, engaged in a public employment affecting the public interest, and (under the decision in Munn v. Illinois) subject to legislative control as to their rates of fare and freight, un- less protected by their charters. . . . This company in the transaction of its business has the same rights, and is subject to the same control as private individuals under the same cir- cumstances. It must carry when called upon to do so, and can charge only a reasonable rate for the carriage. In the absence of any legislative regulation upon the subject, the courts must decide for it, as they do for private persons, when controversies arise, what is reasonable. But when the legislature steps in, and prescribes a maximum of charge, it operates upon this corporation the same as it does upon indi- viduals engaged in a similar business. It was within the the growth of population. Fertiliz- ing Co. ». Hyde Park, 97 U. S. 659. The legal tender acts are constitu- tional, whether applied to contracts made before or after their passage. Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 457, overruling Hepburn v. Griswold, 8 Wall. 603; Chase, C. J., and Clifford, Field, and Nelson, JJ., dissenting. Giving the opinion of the majority of the court, Strong, J., said: "As in a state of civil society property of a citizen or subject is ownership sub- ject to the lawful demands of the sovereign, so contracts must be un- derstood as made in reference to the possible exercise of the rightful au- thority of the government, and no 474 obligation of a contract can extend to the defeat of the legitimate gov- ernment authority." 12 Wall. 551. And see the constitutionality of these acts reaffirmed (Field, J., only, dissenting) in Legal Tender Case, 110 U. S. 421. 1 94 U. S. 113. Affd Budd v. New York, 143 U. S. 517. Brass v. Stoeser, 153 U. S. 391. Munn v. Illinois is criticized at length in State ex rel. Star Pub. Co. v. Associated Press, 159 Mo. 410, holding that the gather- ing of news is not such a public em- ployment that the court could com- pel it to render service to one with whom it declines to contract. Contra, Inter-Ocean Co. v. Associ- ated Press, 184 111. 438.