by the terms of the statute under which such corporation or company is incorporated. The business of booming logs on the waters of streams running through the forests of the West, is a lawful business, and a boom company is a lawfully organized corporation for the purpose of doing such lawful business; and it is "chartered" by law, when the corporation owning it is incorporated under either a general or special law. And the improvement made in the Mississippi River by the construction of the boom and its works, and the exaction of reasonable charges for the use of such works, including fees of state officials for inspecting and scaling, if done under state authority, cannot be considered in any just sense a burden upon interstate commerce. But a corporation having power under its charter to improve the navigation of a stream, cannot, as incidental thereto, exercise a claimed right to drive or handle logs.10 A log driving or boom corporation, authorized by its articles of incorporation to use the waters of a navigable river for a purpose public in its nature, such as improving navigation, and facilitating its business, has the rights of the public in the stream within its well-defined banks, and in aid of navigation it can raise and permanently maintain the water up to ordinary high-water mark, without making any compensation to riparian owners and without incurring liability in case of injury to them.11 A boom company may exercise the power of eminent domain, 12 although the condemnation of land for log roads is a taking of private property for private use and violates the constitution.13 Again, such boom companies are also subject to the right of the legislature to regulate the fees or tolls for booming, sorting and rafting logs or lumber.14 See International Boom Co. v. Rainy Lake River Boom Corp., 97 Minn. 513, 107 N. W. 735. 'Lindsay & Phelps Co. v. Mullen, 176 U. S. 126, 20 Sup. Ct. 125, 44 L. ed. 400. 10 Northwestern Improvement & B. Co. v. O'Brien, 75 Minn. 335, 75 N. W. 989. 11 Gniadck v. Northwestern Improvement & B. Co., 73 Minn. 87, 89, 75 N. W. 894. 12 Samish River Boom Co. v. Union Boom Co., 32 Wash. 586, 73 Pac. 670. 13 Healy Lumber Co. v. Morris, 33 Wash. 490, 74 Pac. 681, 63 L. R. A. 820. 14 Machias Boom v. Holway, 89 Me. § 91. Manufacturing Corporations.-Manufacturing corporations are private corporations in the strictest sense, as they are created for the convenience of the corporation, and are charged with no public duties whatever.15 § 92. Market Company.-A company incorporated to build and maintain a market house, on property to be acquired by purchase, and authorized to rent stalls therein, on such terms and to such persons as its managers may determine, with full power to lease or sell the property acquired for that purpose, and to quit the business at its own pleasure, is in every legal sense a mere private business corporation.16 So where a building, which is a market house, is erected upon a public square in a borough, which the corporation, a private one, is permitted to occupy until the borough purchases and pays for the building, it differs in no respect from the business of an individual except that it is erected in such place, as the company needs no chartered rights to carry on its business and the building is not exempt from local taxation; and the principle that the works of a public corporation, as, for example, the case of a railroad company, may not be subjected to local taxation without express statutory mandate, does not apply to such private corporation.17 § 93. Medical College. 18-A medical college is a private, or part of a private corporation, and not a public or political corporation, and the creating act of such a society constitutes a contract with the State which cannot be impaired, under the 236; Underwood Lumber Co. v. Pelican Boom Co., 76 Wis. 76, 45 N. W. 18. Examine as to rights of boom companies The Navigation Law, Laws of New York 1897, chap. 592, art. V; Cumming & Gilbert's Gen. Laws & Gen'l Stat. of N. Y., pp. 2525 et seq. 15 Hamilton Mfg. Co. v. Massachusetts, 6 Wall. (73 U. S.) 632, 638, 18 L. ed. 904, per Clifford, J. See 88 77, 84, herein. 16 Twelfth St. Market Co. v. Philadelphia & Reading R. Co., 142 Pa. 580, 21 Atl. 989. 17 Allegheny County v. McKeesport Diamond Market, 123 Pa. 164, 168, 16 Atl. 619. Right of city to control public markets, see Swayze v. City of Monroe, 116 La. 643, 40 So. 926. 18 See § 73, herein. Federal Constitution, by a subsequently enacted statute transferring all its powers to a new corporation without such society's consent.19 But a medical college may by its consent become a public corporation.20 § 94. Park Association.-A park association is a private corporation where its objects are especially private and it possesses a distinctive name.21 § 95. Plank Roads. 22-The nature of the right of a plank road company in a road constitutes rather an easement than an absolute title; it is a franchise impressed with a public duty to maintain a highway for public use.23 19 State v. Heyward, 3 Rich. Law (S. C.), 389, 408. 20 Lewis v. Whittle, 77 Va. 415. 21 Commonwealth v. Hazen, 207 Pa. 52, 56 Atl. 263. 22 See § 116, herein. 23 Western Plank Road Co. v. Central Union Tel. Co., 116 Ind. 227, 18 N. E. 14. When plank roads are highways, see Flint & Pere Marquette Ry. Co. v. Gord, 41 Mich. 420, 2 N. W. 648. CHAPTER VII. NATURE OF VARIOUS CORPORATIONS CONTINUED. 96. Race Track Association. of as Affected by Their Re- 98. Railroad Companies as Public 100. Railroad Companies as Quasi public Corporations. 101. Railroad Companies as Form ing Distinct Class by Them- 102. Railroad-Public Use. 105. Railroad Companies as Com mon Carriers. § 96. Race Track Association.-Where a corporation is organized for a public purpose and enjoys a public franchise, the conditions upon which it shall exercise the privileges or right conferred may be determined and directed by the legislature; 1 and this rule has been applied to a racing association 1 Grannan v. Westchester Racing 896, modifying 44 N. Y. Supp. 790, Assoc., 153 N. Y. 449, 461, 47 N. E. 16 App. Div. 8. as a public corporation. But it is also held that a race track corporation which offers purses and stakes, is a private and not a quasi-public corporation where it exercises no franchises, which clothe it with any public duty, and it has never held itself out for public service; and there is no grant of state aid nor the possession of the power of eminent domain, nor any obligation to offer stakes or purses, but its business is transacted for its own private purposes.3 § 97. Railroad Companies-Nature of as Affected by Their Relation and Duty to the Public.-Railroad corporations are invested with special privileges, and the consideration for the public grant is the performance of their duties to the public. The franchise granted to them is intended to be exercised for the public good; their business is a matter of public concern as the public have an interest therein; and such corporations exercise their franchises as a quasi-public trust for the benefit of the people. They are public agents and perform, to a certain extent, certain functions of the government with which they are intrusted in order to afford the public necessary means of transportation. As they are formed See the following cases: United States: Jersey City Gas Light Co. v. United Gas Improvement Co., 46 Fed. 264, 266, per Greene, J., case aff'd 58 Fed. 323. Illinois: Chicago General R. Co. v. Chicago, 176 Ill. 253, 66 L. R. A. 959, 52 N. E. 880, 68 Am. St. Rep. 188; Byrne v. Chicago General R. Co., 169 Ill. 75, 7 Am. & Eng. Corp. Cas. (N. S.) 768, 48 N. E. 703, aff'g 63 Ill. App. 438. Maine: Boston & M. R. Co. v. County Commrs., 79 Me. 386, 10 Atl. 113, 4 N. Eng. 657. New Jersey: State, Hutchinson, v. Belmar, 61 N. J. L. 443, 39 Atl. 643, aff'd 62 N. J. L. 450. Bell Teleph. Co. v. Warwick, 185 Texas: Galveston & Western R. Virginia: Richmond R. & E. Co. v. Brown, 97 Va. 26, 32 S. E. 775, 1 Va. S. C. Rep. 213. 2 Grannan v. Westchester Racing Assoc., 153 N. Y. 449, 461, 47 N. E. 896, modifying 44 N. Y. Supp. 790, 16 App. Div. 8. 3 Corrigan v. Coney Island Jockey Club, 22 N. Y. Supp. 394, 2 Misc. 512, Oklahoma: United States, Search, 51 N. Y. St. R. 592. |