Melville Fuller

“ Argument was earnestly made at the bar that by reason of the amendment of section 6 of article 10 of the constitution of 1869 in 1873, and the subsequent passage of numerous acts granting land in aid of railroad construction, this company was entitled under section 11 of the act of July 27, 1870, which gave it the same rights or relief granted to other companies, to receive the certificates in controversy, even though it was not entitled to them under previous legislation. ”

“ It matters not that the transaction may be looked upon as being somewhat in the nature of an exchange, and that the building of the new line may have involved a grant of no more or even of less land than may have been acquired by the construction of the old line. It involved a grant of land as to the new line, and that the legislature had no right to make. ”

“ The state did not contract with the old corporation to build the road from Columbus to San Antonio, and the new company could not claim to earn lands by building this road, by virtue of what the old company had been empowered to do. The old company did not possess the right by existing law to build the road in question or branch lines, and the authority to construct it was not given until July 27, 1870, at which time the constitution of Texas forbade the granting of lands to railroad companies. ”