West Wisconsin Railway Company v. Board of Supervisors of Trempealeau County
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Scribd Government DocsWest Wisconsin Railway Company v. Board of Supervisors of Trempealeau County
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Scribd Government Docs93 U.S.
595
23 L.Ed. 814
WEST WISCONSIN RAILWAY COMPANY
v.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY.
October Term, 1876
ERROR to the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin.
Argued by Mr. P. L. Spooner and Mr. Matt. H. Carpenter for the plaintiff
in error, and by Mr. S. U. Pinney for the defendants in error.
MR. JUSTICE SWAYNE delivered the opinion of the court.
The facts of this case are substantially the same with those of Tucker v.
Ferguson, 22 Wall. 527, and the question presented for our determination does
not vary materially from the one there decided.
The United States granted certain lands to the State of Wisconsin to aid in the
construction of railroads in that State. The State transferred a portion of the
lands to the plaintiff in error for the purpose and upon the terms and conditions
specified by Congress.
Patents for designated quantities of the land were to issue to the company as
successive sections of the road of twenty miles each were completed. In the
mean time, the title of the company was inchoate. On the 2d of April, 1864, the
legislature of Wisconsin passed an act, whereby, in the first section, it was
declared that all the lands in question the title whereto should become vested in
the company should be exempt from taxation for ten years from the passage of
the act. The second section declared that such lands should become subject to
taxation as soon as they were sold, leased, or conveyed by the company. The
last clause of this section is as follows: 'Provided that said lands may be
mortgaged for the purpose of raising funds to build said railroad without being
subject to taxation for the time aforesaid.'
In August, 1868, the company executed a mortgage of its roadway and rollingstock, and of all the lands it might thereafter acquire, as security for its bonds,
to the amount of $4,000,000, maturing at different times. By another act, of the
16th of March, 1870, the exemption from taxation was further extended for ten
years. But it was declared: 'And it is further provided, and this act is upon the
express co dition that if said railroad company shall not have built their said
road within two years from the passage of this act, then, and in that case, this
act shall be null and void: provided, that this act shall not apply to Pierce
County.'
5
The bonds secured by the deed of trust were issued in successive series, in the
years 1868, 1870, 1871, and 1872. The company realized from the four
millions of bonds about $3,200,000, and applied the amount received to the
construction of their road. A part of the road was completed in 1868, forty-five
miles in 1870, and the entire line during the month of November, 1871. By an
act of the legislature of March 15, 1871, it was enacted that the lands in
Trempealeau County belonging to any railroad company 'not used for road-bed
or depot purposes shall be liable to taxation the same as other real estate.' By an
act of March 24, 1871, the exemption act of March 16, 1870, was amended so
that it should not apply to Trempealeau County. The tax in question was levied
in 1871, and the sale for its non-payment complained of was made in 1872. The
exemption created by the act of 1864 was to terminate in 1874. That specified
in the act of 1870 was then to commence.
The plaintiff in error insists that these actsthe lands of the company having
been mortgaged pursuant to the first, and the road having been completed
within the time limited by the second created a contract within the contract
clause of the Constitution of the United States, and that, therefore, the two acts
of 1870 abrogating the exemptions were void.
In the argument here, a large share of the discussion was devoted to sect. 1, art.
2, of the constitution of Wisconsin. In our view, it is unnecessary to consider
that branch of the case, and it will not be further adverted to.
One who has examined this case cannot look through Tucker v. Ferguson, as
reported, without being struck with the similarity of the points and arguments,
as well as the substantial identity of the facts, in the two cases. The latter case
was carefully considered in all its aspects by this court. It is unnecessary to
reproduce at length the views then expressed. In that case, 22 Wall. 575, we
said:
'The taxing power is vital to the functions of government. It helps to sustain the
social compact, and to give it efficacy. It is intended to promote the general
welfare. It reaches the interests of every member of the community. It may be
restrained by contract in special cases for the public good, where such contracts
are not forbidden. But the contract must be shown to exist. There is no
presumption in its favor. Every reasonable doubt should be resolved against it.
Where it exists, it is to be rigidly scrutinized, and never permitted to extend,
either in scope or duration, beyond what the terms of the concession clearly
require. It is in derogation of public right, and narrows a trust created for the
good of all.'
10
We hold here, as we held there, that the exemptions in question were gratuities
offered by the State, without any element of a contract. There was no assurance
or intimation that they were intended to be irrevocable, or that the laws in
question should not be at all times subject to modification or repeal in like
manner as other legislation. If a different intent had existed, it would doubtless
have been clearly manifested by the language employed. It would not have been
left to encounter the possible results of such a struggle and conflict as have
occurred in this litigation.
11
The State asked for no promise from the company, and the company gave
none. It was optional with the company to mortgage its lands or not, and to
complete or not to complete the road within two years. The early completion of
the road was beneficial to the company as well as to the public. Until then,
there could be no income, and there was a constant loss of interest. Every step
of progress added to the value of the lands of the company through which the
road was to pass.
12
Each party was at liberty to take its own course If the company came within
the condition specified in the act of 1870, it would be in a position to take the
gratuity offered by that act. If this were so, the State might continue or
withdraw that gratuity when it took effect, as it might deem best for the public
welfare; and it possessed the same power with reference to the exemption
created by the prior act of 1864, while that act was operative. Neither party
was, nor was intended to be, in any wise bound to the other. The State was at all
times wholly unfettered as to both exemptions. The company chose to bring
itself within the condition of the act of 1870. The State chose to continue the
gratuity for a time, and then withdrew it. The exemption given by both acts was
abrogated a year before the bonds of the last series were issued, and before the
first term of exemption expired or the second began. The State did what it had
an unqualified right to do. In such cases, a reasonable doubt is fatal to the claim.
Prima facie every presumption is against it. It is only when the terms of the
concession are too explicit to admit fairly of any other construction that the
proposition can be supported. Providence Bank v. Billings, 4 Pet. 561; Christ's
Church v. Philadelphia, 24 How. 302; Gilman v. Sheboygan, 2 Black, 513;
Herrick v. Randolph, 13 Vt. 531; Easton Bank v. Commonwealth, 10 Penn. St.
450; People v. Roper, 35 N. Y. 629.
13
We hold the conclusion we have announced to be the law of this case. With its
ethics we have nothing to do. That subject is not open to our consideration.
14
Judgment affirmed.
15
