Franchise

“ It is, says he, 'a franchise for a number of persons, to be incorporated and exist as a body politic, with a power to maintain perpetual succession, and to do corporate acts, and each individual of such corporation is also said to have a franchise or freedom.' This franchise, like other franchises, is an incorporeal hereditament, issuing out of something real or personal, or concerning or annexed to, and exercisable within a thing corporate. ”

“ I am for a more comprehensive franchise than the symbolical one of lath and plaster. I would give a vote to every man certified as competent to READ and WRITE. I prefer a representation of INTELLIGENT MEN to any Franchise that can be devised. What claim has an illiterate hind to the Elective franchise? ”

“ And moreover, if we believed that it would be unconditionally hastened by our getting the franchise, we should be what I call superstitious men, believing in magic, or the production of a result by hocus-pocus. Our getting the franchise will greatly hasten that good end in proportion only as every one of us has the knowledge, the foresight, the conscience, that will make him well-judging and scrupulous in the use of it. ”

“ It would have become essentially a special franchise, even if it had not been granted as a special franchise by any competent legal authority; and, like every similar franchise, it would increase automatically in value with the growth of the community in population and business. ”

“ This form of franchise has been called 'a tenure during good behavior,' it has resulted in superior service to the public and, to the surprise of those who reason a priori on the subject, such franchises have proved in effect perpetual. ”

“ The mere extension of the franchise is not the evil; I should be glad to see it greatly extended;—there is no harm in that per se; the mischief is that the franchise is nominally extended, but to such classes, and in such a manner, that a practical disfranchisement of all above, and a discontenting of all below, a favoured class are the unavoidable results. ”

“ Land, money, chattels may by industry and intelligence be made productive without a franchise; but no excellence in these desirable qualities can ultimately render a franchise productive without the use of money, chattels, and land in connection therewith, and when the juncture is made the earning capacity of the real and personal property, plus the franchise and plus intelligence and industry, is really no greater than it would be without the franchise, for the franchise has added no producing power to the realty or personalty ”

“ Three if not four of the charters are dead by limitation, one company sold its franchise to another, one is slumbering with an occasional show of life, another is leading a questionable life and two are producing and selling power. ”

“ The writer, therefore, would suggest that, since franchise value is a very elusive item, depending on the life of the franchise, the attitude of the community toward the corporation, the activity of competing corporations, and numerous indeterminate items, the term, "business value," or, "going concern value," be used instead of "franchise value." "Going concern value" is not as good a term as "business value" or "value of the business," because it may be assumed to include both the value of the business and the value of the property. ”

“ Now, tell me in a word, Is there any one thing that you require more than anything else, which we can help you to get?' The answer was: 'The one thing which we must have—not for its own sake, but for the security it offers for obtaining and retaining other reforms—is the franchise. ”

“ For these reasons, I believe that on principle a franchise should be held to have no value except that arising from its use as a shield to protect those investing their property on the faith thereof, and that, it renders fruitful, it possesses no more economic value for the investor than does an actual shield possess fighting value, apart from the soldier who bears it. ”

“ The essential properties of corporate existence are quite distinct from the franchises of the corporation. The franchise of being a corporation belongs to the corporators,while the powers and privileges vested in and to be exercised by the corporate body as such, are the franchises of the corporation. ”

“ A franchise is merely a grant of the right to use public property (the streets, particularly) either in perpetuity or for a term of years and subject to certain conditions. Before any public service company can begin operations it must first secure a franchise from the state, city, town, or township as the case may be. ”

“ The property of a railroad company for purposes of taxation consists of its realty, its local personalty, its rolling stock, its choses in action, and its franchises. The franchise is a privilege conferred by the charter of incorporation, namely the right to exercise all the powers granted in the mode prescribed for the purpose of profit. It is a unit not confined to any one county in which it may be exercised. ”

“ Justice Bradley, the court said: 'A franchise is a right, privilege, or power of public concern, which ought not to be exercised by private individuals at their mere will and pleasure, but should be reserved for public control and administration. ”

“ That depends upon whether there is any other practicable way of exercising the franchise which is less of a nuisance, for the franchise must be exercised, in crowded cities, at least, in such manner as to obviate the nuisance, if possible, and inflict the least injury upon others, the best means to that end being employed, and, if there are two ways in which a franchise can be exercised, one of which would create a nuisance and the other would not, or would at least diminish it, that method must be adopted which will obviate the nuisance, or reduce it to a minimum. ”

“ IV. masters and wardens were ordered to associate with themselves the honest men of their mysteries, and come in their best liveries to the elections; that is to say, the franchise was restricted to the “liverymen” of the companies. At this time the corporation exercised supreme control over the companies, and the companies were still genuine associations of the traders and householders of the city. The delegation of the franchise to the liverymen was thus, in point of fact, the selection of a superior class of householders to represent the rest. ”

“ A franchise is a contract with an exhibitor which extends over a period of more than a motion picture season and covers the exhibition of features released by the distributor during the period of the agreement. The District Court held that a franchise constituted a restraint of trade because a period of more than one season was too long and the inclusion of all features was disadvantageous to competitors. ”

“ With such a corporation, it is not competent for the legislature to interfere. It is a franchise, or incorporeal hereditament, founded upon private property, devoted by its patron to a private charity, of a peculiar kind, the offspring of his own will and pleasure, to be managed and visited by persons of his own appointment, according to such laws and regulations as he, or the persons so selected, may ordain. ”

“ The franchise to do is an independent franchise, or rather a combination of franchises, embracing all things which the corporation is given power to do; and this power to do is as much a thing of value and a part of the intangible property of the corporation as the franchise to be. Franchises to do go wherever the work is done. The Southern Pacific Railway Company is a corporation chartered by the state of Kentucky; yet, within the limits of that state, it is said to have no tangible PROPERTY, AND NO OFFICE FOR THE TRANSACTIon of business. ”

“ We are aware of nothing peculiar to a franchise which can class it higher, or render it more sacred, than other property. A franchise is property, and nothing more; it is incorporeal property, and is so defined by Justice Blackstone, when treating, in his second volume, chap. ”

“ The notice of an application for a franchise is required to state that sealed bids will be received for the franchise 'up to a certain hour and day named therein' (§ 3) , and also to state that the franchise 'will be granted to the person, firm, or corporation who shall make the highest cash bid therefor;' and any bid may be raised not less than 10 per cent 'above the highest sealed bid,' and the franchise finally struck off, sold, and granted to the 'highest bidder.' (§ 5) . ”

“ It was and is the franchise in the exercise of which the state and general public have the most interest and concern. A failure to exercise this franchise was a failure to perform the very thing which was of the essence of the contract. ”

“ Franchises are not peculiar to corporations, they are granted to individuals, and may be held by any persons capable of holding or enjoying property; a franchise is property, a right to the privilege or immunity conferred by the grant ”

“ A franchise, right, authority, or permission, specified in this subdivision, shall for the purposes of taxation be known as a 'special franchise.' A special franchise shall be deemed to include the value of the tangible property of a person, copartnership, association, or corporation, situated in, upon, under, or above any street, highway, public place, or public waters, in connection with the special franchise. ”

“ Franchises are of various grades, from that of a mere right of succession to an estate in land, to the grant of a County Palatine, which is the highest franchise known to the law; the nature and character whereof is the same, whether the grant is to one or many. Corporations are also of all grades, and made for varied objects; all governments are corporations, created by usage and common consent, or grants and charters which create a body politic for prescribed purposes ”

“ These are under government control usually in cities, because they employ the public streets for carrying on the enterprise. The franchise is really an extension of the license in particular directions. This is usually issued with the expectation of great public benefit from a large investment of capital which would not be made without relief from competition, because not immediately profitable. The franchise usually carries with it certain restrictions as to use of public highways and limitation to a term of years. ”

“ While the actual real estate controlled by the corporation accounts for some of this remarkable rise in the value of the shares, a greater and more lasting cause was the possession of an almost exclusive privilege or franchise which assured a handsome and ever-increasing return on the investment. ”

“ Such an argument frequently takes the form of a statement of the advantages that will follow the adoption of the course we recommend, or of the disadvantages that the following of the opposite course will cause.
If a corporation should ask for a franchise for a street railway, the city officials might hold the opinion that a double track should be laid. ”

“ So strongly do we feel on this point, indeed, that we are almost inclined to consider all who possess really well-conditioned umbrellas as worthy of the Franchise. ”

“ The Society has on its Register, Members in China, India, the Mauritius, on the Continent, and in all parts of the United Kingdom; the interests of the most distant Shareholders being carefully attended to.
Persons desiring the Freehold Franchise in Counties, can acquire plots of Land of adequate value, without any trouble beyond that of forwarding the price of the plot they may select, on any Estate, after inspection of the Plan. ”

“ The franchise which the complainants hold by purchase from Wiggins, extended to the land which has been taken from them under the act of the legislature of Illinois of 2d March, 1839.
2. The land so taken is necessary to the enjoyment of the franchise. ”

“ Everybody was satisfied except the trouble makers, who were ignored. In short, the episode of the Riverside Franchise is a triumphant proof of the contention that business men are the best fitted to conduct the politics of their country. ”

“ It is impossible to write even a brief outline of this development without plunging deeply into the two phases of American life of which we have most cause to be ashamed; these are American municipal politics and the speculative aspects of Wall Street. The predominating influences in American city life have been the great franchise corporations. ”

“ A franchising authority may establish requirements in a franchise with respect to the designation or use of channel capacity for public, educational, or governmental use only to the extent provided in this section. ”

“ No amount of gold or chattel property conferred the franchise: land alone was recognized as the vehicle of all personal privilege, and the basis of civil rank. Centuries have not obliterated these features in their descendants to this day ”

“ This possibility compelled the coastwise States to liberalize the franchise; and it prevented the formation of a dominant class, whether based on property or on custom. Among the pioneers one man was as good as his neighbor. ”

“ An application for extension of the franchise under this section—
(a) shall be made by notice to the Secretary; and (b) shall be accompanied by all materials that the Corporation wishes to put forward in support of the application. (3) The Secretary shall submit to the Chief Executive in Council a report setting out his recommendation as to whether, having regard to all relevant considerations (including any provision of the operating agreement relating to the extension of the franchise) , the Corporation’s franchise should be extended. ”

“ The franchise is enjoyed by professors of universities and colleges, civil servants, knights of orders of chivalry, members of the liberal professions, merchants, persons who have an income of £24 from money invested in Government securities, and all others twenty-five years of age, able to read and write, and paying 32s. ”