Turnpike Co. v. State
Supreme Court of the United States
In 1812 the State of Maryland incorporated a company to build a turnpike road between Baltimore and Washington. The company by its charter had power to take tolls and was bound to erect bridges and keep them and the road in good repair. In regard to its privileges generally, there ivas nothing special about it.
Read the full summary
In 1812 the State of Maryland incorporated a company to build a turnpike road between Baltimore and Washington. The company by its charter had power to take tolls and was bound to erect bridges and keep them and the road in good repair. In regard to its privileges generally, there ivas nothing special about it. In 1831 the same State granted a charter to a railroad company to make a railroad between the same cities, the line of which ran near to and parallel with the track of the turnpike. The turnpike company not having kept its road and bridges in repair, while it yet demanded tolls, the…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Nelson
The difficulty of the argument in behalf of the turnpike company, and which lies at the foundation of the defence is, that there is no contract in the charter of the turnpike company that prohibited the legislature from authorizing the construction of the rival railroad. No exclusive privileges had been conferred upon it, either in express terms, or by necessary implication; and hence whatever may have been the general injurious effects and consequences to the company, from the construction and operation of the rival road, they are simply misfortunes which may excite our sympathies, but are…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Turnpike Company v. The StateSupreme Court of the United States · 1866