Mayor of Baltimore v. Baltimore Steam Packet Co.

The question in this case is whether, under a grant hv the city to the Steam Packet Company of a right to the exclusive possession and use of a wharf in Baltimore City for a term of fifty years, at a stipulated annual compensation, payable in quarterly installments, the company was bound to pay the compensation during the whole of the term stated, or was rendered only a licensee, or holder of a privilege which it might surrender at will, terminating the liability for payments, before the expiration of the fifty years. The city has sued the company for installments unpaid after an attempted…