146 Ga. 570 | Ga. | 1917
1. It is contended that the words, “or that will depreciate the value of the said Western & Atlantic Bailway,” as embodied in the act of 1915, are not included in the caption, and' that the inclusion of them in the body is violative of art. 3, section 1, par. 8, of the constitution of Georgia (Civil Code, § 6437), which inhibits the inclusion in the body of an act of matter that is not covered by the caption. The caption contemplates the enactment of a law for the protection of the Western & Atlantic Bail-road as against competing lines to be constructed by private companies. The caption does not use the words which are quoted above from the body of the act, but the matter expressed by these words is
2. It was also contended that it did not appear that the proposed railroad would be parallel to the tracks of the Western & Atlantic Eailroad, or that it would depreciate the value of that road; and hence that the act has no application. The case was tried upon the pleadings, which set forth in detail the facts as outlined in the statement preceding this opinion. From these it sufficiently appears that the contemplated road would be parallel to and depreciative of the value of the W. & A. Eailroad, within the meaning of the act.
3. It was further contended that the act of August 11, 1915, was a special act for which there was provision by- an existing general law as set forth in the Civil Code, §§ 2577 et seq., and that the special act was violative of art. 1, sec. 4, par. 1, of the constitution of the State of Georgia (Civil Code, § 6391), which among other things provides that “Laws of a general nature shall have uniform operation throughout the State, and no special law shall be enacted in any" case for which provision has been made by an existing general law.” The attack thus made upon the act of 1915 involves the character of the law embodied in the Civil Code, §§ 2577 et seq., and likewise the character of the act of 1915, in respect to either or both being special laws or laws of a general nature, within the meaning of the above provision of the constitution. If the former is a general law and the latter a special enactment on the same subject, the latter is unconstitutional; if both'are special laws, the latter does not violate that provision of the constitution. Mathis v. Jones, 84 Ga. 804 (11 S. E. 1018). We will first consider the character of the law embodied in the Civil Code, §§ 2577 et seq. Formerly the matter of incorporating railroad companies was a subject exclusively for special legislative enactment. This was changed by an amendment to the constitution of the State (art. 3, sec. 7, par. 18; Civil Code, § 6446), which took from the legislature the power directly to grant charters to railroad companies, and conferred that power upon the Secretary of State to be exercised under laws to be prescribed by the legislature. In 1892 an act was passed by the legislature (Acts 1892, p. 87), pre
If carried into effect the act would be a limitation upon the power expressly conferred upon the Secretary of State by the preexisting law, and render inoperative the general railroad law embodied in the Civil Code, §§ 2577 et seq., in that section or territory of the State where a railroad, if constructed, would be parallel to the Western & Atlantic Railroad. The Western & Atlantic Railroad having a fixed position and location, there wpuld be excepted from the operation of the law.a well-defined portion of the State along and through which no private railroad could be constructed, and the law would not be territorially general. Under these circumstances the amending act would ordinarily be a special law inhibited by the constitution, under the principles of the cases which will now be noticed. In the case of Futrelle v. George, 135 Ga. 265 (69 S. E. 182), the question was whether.the act of 1903 (Acts 1903, p. 26), purporting to amend the general road laws of the State, was a special law and violative of the provision of the constitution prohibiting the passage of a special law upon a subject for which there was provision by an existing general law. The act in question was so expressed as definitely to describe otherwise than by name certain counties which it purported to except from the operation of the act. It was held that the act was a special
Judgment reversed.