Montgomery & West Point Railroad v. Branch, Sons & Co.
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from the Chancery Court of Montgomery. Heard before the Hon. Hüftiosco Adstill. The Montgomery and West Point Railroad Company, a corporation of the State of Alabama created by an act of the .legislature, passed in the year 1843, had in the year 1870, ■one. hundred and seventeen miles of railroad, and other .property of great value. It was indebted at the same time .to the amount of about two-thirds of that value.
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Appeal from the Chancery Court of Montgomery. Heard before the Hon. Hüftiosco Adstill. The Montgomery and West Point Railroad Company, a corporation of the State of Alabama created by an act of the .legislature, passed in the year 1843, had in the year 1870, ■one. hundred and seventeen miles of railroad, and other .property of great value. It was indebted at the same time .to the amount of about two-thirds of that value. Its stock .sold in the market at thirty cents on the dollar. Of its debt, the sum of about $766,000 was due upon and secured by first .mortgage bonds, which had been issued…
1Opinion of the Court
MANNING, J.—
Those creditors of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad Company who were secured by mortgages of the company’s property, by those contracts acquired rights therein, of which they could not be deprived even by an act of the legislature; since any law which a State may enact, that would impair the obligation of a contract, is void under the constitution of the United States. When, therefore, in the twenty-second section of the charter of the Western Railroad Company, it was enacted, in reference to the purchase of the property of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad Company,…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Wood v. DummerU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Maine · 1824
- Bank of St. Marys v. St. John, Powers & Co.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1854
- Smith v. HuckabeeSupreme Court of Alabama · 1875
- Erwin v. BlakeSupreme Court of the United States · 1834
3Cited by16 opinions
- Central Railroad & Banking Co. of Ga. v. PettusSupreme Court of the United States · 1885
- Elyton Land Co. v. Birmingham Warehouse & Elevator Co.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1890
- In re CurtisCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1900
- Mobile & Montgomery Railway Co. v. GilmerSupreme Court of Alabama · 1888
- Carlisle v. Mercantile Trust Co.Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1901
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