UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

WESTERN UNION TEL. CO. V. WESTERN & ATLANTIC R. CO., 91 U. S. 283 (1875)

91 U. S. 283

U.S. Supreme Court

Western Union Tel. Co. v. Western & Atlantic R. Co., 91 U.S. 283 (1875)

Western Union Telegraph Company v. Western & Atlantic Railroad Company

91 U.S. 283

Syllabus

1. An agreement between a telegraph company and the State of Georgia, sole owner of a railroad, which provides that the company shall put up and set apart on its poles along said railroad a telegraph wire for the exclusive use of the railroad, equip it with as many instruments, batteries, and other necessary fixtures as may be required for use in the railroad stations, run the wire into all the offices along the line of road, and put the same in complete working order, fixes the terms upon which officers of the road may transmit and receive messages through the connecting lines of the company, recognizes the right of way of the company along the line of road, regulates the use of the wire, and the compensation for it, and binds the state to pay the cost of constructing the wire and equipping the same at railroad stations not already supplied with instruments, batteries, and other necessary fixtures does not constitute a sale of such wire, batteries, and other instruments to the state, but is merely a contract for her exclusive use thereof.

2. As the ownership of such wire and instruments is in the telegraph company, a lease of the railroad by the state confers upon her lessees only such rights as she acquired under her contract with the company.

The State of Georgia, sole owner of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, desiring the use of a telegraph for the purposes of clubjuris

Page 91 U. S. 284

the road along its line, an instrument of writing providing therefor, bearing date Aug. 18, 1870, signed by William Orton, president, on behalf of the Western Union Telegraph Company and by Foster Blodgett, superintendent of the railroad, was approved by Rufus B. Bullock, governor, and countersigned by H. C. Carsen, secretary of the executive department.

The substance of this agreement was that the company should put up and set apart on its poles already there along said railroad a telegraph line for the exclusive use of the railroad, equip it with as many instruments, batteries, and other necessary fixtures, as might be required for use in the railroad stations, run the wire into all the offices along the line of the road, and put the same in complete working order. Other provisions related to the terms on which the officers of the road might transmit and receive messages through the connecting lines of the company, to the right of way of the company along the line of the road, and to other matters regulating the use of the wire, and compensation for it. The sixth article bound the state to pay, as soon as it could be ascertained, the cost of constructing the wire and of equipping it at railroad stations not already supplied with instruments, batteries, and other necessary fixtures. Shortly after the wires were set up and the instruments put in working order, the governor of the state, under authority of an act of the legislature, granted, conveyed, and leased

"the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which is the property of the State of Georgia, together with all its houses, workshops, depots, rolling stock, and appurtenances of every character, for the full term of twenty years,"

to certain persons who became a body corporate by the name of "The Western & Atlantic Railroad Company."

The railroad company took possession of the road and its appurtenances under the lease, including the wire and batteries and instruments put on the road and in its offices by the telegraph company under the contract with the state, but, having this possession, refused to pay for the transmission of messages over connecting lines according to the terms of the contract, and claimed that it was not bound thereby and that in fact the true construction of that agreement being that the state had bought and paid for the wire and instruments, and owned clubjuris

Page 91 U. S. 285

them, it, as lessee of the state, had the right to control and use them without any liability to the telegraph company.

The telegraph company, in its bill of complaint, states the refusal of the railroad company to recognize its rights in any respect, while insisting on using the wire and apparatus and withholding from the complainant any use of them in the offices and depots of the road; alleges that these considerations induced the complainant to treat as revoked and withdrawn all power and privilege on the part of the defendant to use said wire and apparatus, or to receive compensation therefor and that the complainant, seeking to recover possession of them, had been hindered and obstructed by the defendant in so doing. The bill prays that the defendant be enjoined from using said wire, from hindering or obstructing the complainant in the use of it or in severing it from all the offices of the defendant, and for such other and further relief as the nature of the case requires.

The railroad company, in its answer, denies that the contract between the telegraph company and the state is valid, being without authority of law; asserts that if valid, it, as lessee of the railroad, is not bound by the terms thereof and that, by the true construction of that contract, the state became the purchaser and owner of the wire and instruments, and that the company succeeded to this ownership without being bound by the other terms of the agreement.

The railroad company also filed a cross-bill setting up this view of its rights and praying an injunction against the telegraph company to restrain it from interfering with the use of the wire and apparatus so acquired from the state.

The district court dismissed this cross-bill on demurrer, and on hearing the original bill of the complainant, the answer and evidence, decreed that the wire and instruments in question are the property of the State of Georgia, and are included in the lease to the railroad company, and that this company is not bound by the terms of the contract in other respects unless adopted by it, and therefore dismissed the bill. clubjuris

Page 91 U. S. 289


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