Cincinnati, I. & W. Ry. Co. v. Connersville, 218 U.S. 336 (1910)

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Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western

Railway Company v. Connersville
No. 1.

Submitted October 25, 1910
Decided November 28, 1910
218 U.S. 336

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF INDIANA

Syllabus

A railway corporation accepts its franchise from the state subject to the condition that it will conform at its own expense to any regulations as to the opening or use of streets which are reasonable and proper and have for their object public safety and convenience and which may, from time to time, be established by the municipality within whose limits the company operates, proceeding under legislative authority.

The power, whether called police, governmental, or legislative, exists in each state, by appropriate legislation not forbidden by its own or the federal constitution, to regulate the relative rights and duties of all persons and corporations within it jurisdiction, and therefore to provide for the public good and convenience. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Ry. Co. v. Ohio, 173 U.S. 285, 298.

A railway company is not deprived of its property without due process of law either under the Fifth or the Fourteenth Amendment because in a street opening proceeding it is not awarded, in addition to the value of the land taken, the cost of the new structure which must necessarily be erected to carry its right of way over the street, as required for the safety and convenience of the public.

170 Ind. 316 affirmed.

The facts, which involve the constitutionality under the Fourteenth Amendment of proceedings of a street opening through a railway embankment, are stated in the opinion.