Melville Fuller

“ The consent of the municipal authorities and the consent of the abutting property owners, or the substituted consent of the supreme court, were essential to the right to construct a railroad, and these it never obtained. It paid the incorporation tax under the tax law of 1896, but that gave no right of construction, nor did its filing of a map or profile. There is also an averment that this company 'paid taxes duly assessed against it by the city, county, and state of New York,' but none that any tax was paid on the right to construct a railroad in the streets of New York. ”

“ No rights created by the Constitution are asserted, and if the facts set up by the complainants are, as matter of law, wholly inadequate to show possession of contract rights as between them, or either of them, and the state, then no dispute or controversy arises in respect of an unconstitutional invasion of such rights. ”

“ The Underground Railroad, one of the complainants, was, as before stated, formed by the consolidation of the Central Tunnel Company with two other companies under chapter 676 of the Laws of 1892, which provided for the consent of the proper city authorities and of the owners of one-half in value of the abutting property, or, as to the latter, the determination of commissioners, affirmed by the supreme court. ”