H. M. BYLLESBY & COMPANY INCORPORATED ENGINEERS NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL. DESIGN, CONSTRUCT AND OPERATE RAILWAY, LIGHT, POWER, HYDRAULIC AND GAS PLANTS EXAMINATIONS AND REPORTS GENERAL STATUTES RELATING TO THE USE OF STREETS AND HIGHWAYS BY STREET RAILWAY, GAS, WATER AND COMPILED BY JAMES S. CUMMINS GENERAL COUNSEL FOR H. M. BYLLESBY & COMPANY, UNRARY OF THE LELAND STARFORD, JR., UNIVERSITY CHICAGO, ILL. PUBLISHED BY H. M. BYLLESBY & COMPANY 1905 PREFACE During a practice of fifteen years in connection with the incorporation of public service corporations and the passing upon their franchise rights, I have frequently felt the want of some ready reference book giving the general laws of the various states and territories, primarily governing the subject of franchise rights. To my knowledge, there is at the present time no such work which has been brought up to recent date. I have frequently found that much preliminary expense, subsequently found to be wasted, has been incurred through an ignorance on the part of the business interests on the subject of the fundamental laws governing the issuance of franchises, whereas a preliminary reference to such laws would have shown at once that the franchises in question were invalid or doubtful; and for the purpose of supplying such a compendium, and which was originally intended for the use of my clients, I have decided to print in a concise form the general laws on this subject throughout the United States. It is my intention to follow this book by a subsequent treatise covering the principal decisions in the franchise litigations which have arisen in recent years, and to discuss their bearing on the general subject. Chicago, Ill., January 3, 1905. JAMES S. CUMMINS. |