Commonwealth v. Smith
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Bill in equity seeking to impeach the validity of a mortgage, executed on the 30th of July 1855 by the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company to the defendants as trustees, covering by its terms the franchise, railroad and all other property of the corporation, then owned or thereafter to be acquired, to secure bonds to the amount of $900,000, to be issued to the contractor as part compensation for constructing the railroad, payable in thirty years from date.
Read the full summary
Bill in equity seeking to impeach the validity of a mortgage, executed on the 30th of July 1855 by the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company to the defendants as trustees, covering by its terms the franchise, railroad and all other property of the corporation, then owned or thereafter to be acquired, to secure bonds to the amount of $900,000, to be issued to the contractor as part compensation for constructing the railroad, payable in thirty years from date. This mortgage recited the provisions of a contract for the construction of the railroad, dated December 30,1854, to the effect that such…
1Opinion of the CourtHoar, J.
The question whether the mortgage made to the defendants by the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company is of any validity against the Commonwealth requires the court to give a construction to the provisions of St. 1854, c. 286. To ascertain what the legislature intended to authorize or prohibit by *455that statute, it will be expedient first to consider what were the powers of railroad companies in relation to the issue of bonds and the making of mortgages at common law, or before the statute was enacted.
There seems to be no reason why a railroad corporation should not be considered as having power…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Dillon v. MyersSupreme Court of Colorado · 1915
- Kavanaugh v. City of St. LouisSupreme Court of Missouri · 1909
- Karsh v. Fidelity Union Casualty Co.California Court of Appeal · 1932
- In re the Probate of the Will of KonasNew York Surrogate's Court · 1957