Paducah v. Paducah Railway Co., 261 U.S. 267 (1923)

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Paducah v. Paducah Railway Company

No. 243

Argued January 18, 1923
Decided February 19, 1923
261 U.S. 267

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY

Syllabus

1. A city with power to fix the fares chargeable by street railway companies will not be adjudged to have surrendered any part of it unless plainly authorized and unmistakably intending to do so. P. 272.

2. A street railway company has a constitutional right to a reasonable return on the value of its property used in the public service if it has not contracted the right away. P. 272.

3. A contract between a city and a street railway company considered and construed as fixing fares for the first year of operation under it, but as leaving unfettered the rights of the company and of the city, respectively, thereafter to charge and prescribe other fares that are just and reasonable. P. 273.

4. A decree enjoining a city from enforcing street railway fares found to be confiscatory should be so framed as to protect the city’s right to prescribe the same fares if, through change of conditions, they become just and reasonable. P. 275.

Modified and affirmed.

Appeal from a decree of the district court permanently enjoining the City from enforcing an ordinance prescribing fares for the Railway Company.