Pennsylvania Act 1901-27 — RAILROAD COMPANIES PREVENTED FROM CONTROLLING COMPETING LINES

Act text

RAILROAD COMPANIES PREVENTED FROM CONTROLLING COMPETING LINES
                   Act of Apr. 4, 1901, P.L. 61, No. 27               Cl. 74
                                  AN ACT

     To enforce the provisions of section four of article seventeen
        of the Constitution.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That no railroad, canal or
     other corporation of this State, or the lessees, purchasers or
     managers of any such railroad or canal corporation, shall
     consolidate the stock, property or franchises of such
     corporation with, or lease or purchase the works or franchises
     of, or hold a majority of the stock of, or in any other way
     control, any other railroad or canal corporation, organized
     under the laws of this State, owning or having under its control
     within this State a parallel or competing line; nor shall any
     officer of such railroad or canal corporation of this State act
     as an officer of any other railroad or canal corporation of this
     State, owning or having the control of a parallel or competing
     line; and the question whether railroads or canals are parallel
     or competing lines shall, when demanded by the party
     complainant, be decided by a jury as in other civil issues:
     Provided, That none of the prohibitions of this act shall apply
     where one railroad or canal corporation owns a majority of the
     stock of another railroad or canal corporation, which it held
     before the adoption of the present Constitution, nor where a
     railroad corporation has furthered or shall further the
     construction of a line, parallel and competing with its own, by
     subscribing to a majority of the stock of a corporation
     organized for that purpose.
        Section 2.  That any violation or attempted violation of the
     provisions of this act may be attacked or restrained by
     appropriate proceedings at law or in equity, at the instance of
     the Commonwealth acting through the Attorney General, and that
     any such violation shall also constitute a misdemeanor, for
     which the offending corporation, as well as the president, vice
     president and members of the board of directors participating
     therein, may be indicted and punished, separately or
     collectively.