Shaw v. Covington, 194 U.S. 593 (1904)
U.S. Supreme Court
Shaw v. Covington, 194 U.S. 593 (1904)
Shaw v. Covington
No. 218
Argued April 22, 25, 1904
Decided May 31, 1904
194 U.S. 593
Syllabus
Corporations having consolidated under a state statute providing that, on the recording of the agreement, the separate existence of the constituent corporations should cease and become a single corporation subject to the provisions of that law, and other laws relating to such a corporation, and should be vested with all the property, business, credits, assets and effects of the constituent companies, and one of the corporations claimed to possess an exclusive franchise to furnish water to a city under which the city could not for a period erect its own works, and the constitution and laws of the state at the time of the consolidation, but passed after the franchise was granted, prohibited the granting of such exclusive privileges.
Held that, on the consolidation, the original corporations disappeared and the franchises of the consolidated corporation were left to be determined by the general law as it existed at the time of the consolidation, and the corporation did not succeed to the right of the original company to exclude the city from erecting its own plant.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.