United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Underground Railroad of New York v. New York, 193 U.S. 416 (1904)

Underground Railroad of City of

New York v. City of New York

No. 160

Argued January 29, February 23-24, 1904

Decided March 21, 1904

193 U.S. 416

Syllabus

Where the sole ground on which the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court is invoked is that the case arises under the impairment of contract clause of the Constitution of the United States, and the facts set up by complainants are, as matter of law, wholly inadequate to establish any contract rights as between them and the state, no dispute or controversy arises in respect to an unwarranted invasion of such rights, and the bill should be dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

The mere filing of a map and profile, and the payment of the regular incorporation tax, by a company, organized under the general railroad law of 1850 of New York, but which did not obtain the consents of municipal authorities or of abutting property owners or substituted consent of the Supreme Court, or acquire any property by condemnation, did not create

Page 193 U. S. 417

a contract with the state for the exclusive use of the space included in the map and profile, and a subsequent act of the state authorizing the construction of a railroad partly over the same route does not violate the impairment of contract clause of the Constitution of the United States.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

Page 193 U. S. 421