Roger B. Taney

“ There is no evidence upon the subject, and the company, in its answer to the complainant's application, suggests no difficulty in the supply of water, nor that there is hazard of interruption to the transportation of produce on the canal, or danger to its banks. Indeed, they give the complainant to understand, that they are entirely able to comply with his proposal, and say that they will pass his boat through if he will land his passengers or pay toll upon them. They refuse upon the ground that they are entitled to toll, and place their defence on no other. ”

“ The rights of the public are never presumed to be surrendered to a corporation, unless the intention to surrender clearly appears in the law.
The questions before us are of high importance to the community, and they are emphatically questions between the rights of the public and the powers of the corporation. The privilege of making this canal, and of receiving tolls upon it, was granted by the States without any compensation to the public but the convenience it was expected to afford. The States, as well as the United States, have contributed to the expense of its construction. ”

“ The canal was intended by the charter to be used by vessels engaged in commerce, not by passenger lines, which interfere with the trade and injure the canal. Any vessel you may send in the line you propose to establish will be permitted to pass through, if they have goods, commodities, and produce on board; or, if empty, on payment of the regular tolls now imposed. If you carry passengers, or persons not engaged in the navigation or business of the vessel or cargo, you will be required to pay one dollar toll for each passenger, on arriving at the first lock. ”

“ The interest of that State certainly required that the canal, upon the payment of the stipulated tolls, should be free for all the purposes for which the Susquehannah was declared to be a public highway. The opening of the river and the construction of the canal were correlative improvements and portions of the same line of navigation, and there could be no reason of justice or policy for stopping at the canal the passengers who came down the Susquehannah on their way to Philadelphia. Whether they are made liable to toll, or not, must of course be determined by the language of the charters. ”

“ But it is equally true, that, in every country where traffic and trade have been carried on by water, it has been the custom of vessels engaged in the transportation of merchandise to carry passengers, and to have vessels thus engaged fitted in many instances with better accommodations than others, in order to induce travellers to take passage in them, and thereby increase the profits of the navigation in which they were engaged. ”

“ Such an unlimited power to levy contributions on the public, and one so inconsistent with the ordinary course of legislation upon that subject, and, we may add, so unjust and injurious to the public, ought not to be sustained in a court of justice, unless it is conferred in plain and express words. ”

“ It was deemed, therefore, advisable by Pennsylvania, to combine with its assent to the Maryland condition an act incorporating the company, in order that it might derive its corporate existence from the three States, and its charter become a compact between them, which neither could alter without the consent of the other. ”

“ For the power claimed is the right to demand toll from every citizen who passes through the canal, and to fix the amount at the discretion of the corporation. In form, it is true, the demand is made on the owner of the vessel engaged in transporting passengers ”

“ But as the city of Philadelphia was chiefly interested in this improvement, and the interests of Baltimore adverse, it was evident that subscriptions for the stock were to be looked for in the former, and not in the latter; and that it would be essential to the success of the enterprise, that its managers should be members of the community which favored it, and the board hold its sessions and transact its business amongst them. A charter from Pennsylvania was necessary to attain these objects, and thereby give assurance of the ultimate success of the work. ”

“ The respective States naturally felt it their duty to foster their respective cities, as far as justice and the interests of the community, generally, would permit. Pennsylvania, therefore, would not agree to remove the obstructions in the Susquehannah, unless the canal was authorized to be made; nor would Maryland authorize the canal, unless the trade of the Susquehannah was laid open to Baltimore. ”

“ For whatever ground there might be in the present state of things to induce the Legislatures of the States to allow some toll on account of passengers, it can be no reason for denying them the liberty to pass ”

“ If a passage through may be refused in one of these cases, it may be in all. Nor does the company claim that there is any distinction between passenger vessels and vessels intended for the transportation of goods. ”