Bill by the Hamilton Gaslight & Coke Company to enjoin the city of Hamilton, Ohio, from erecting and maintaining gas works. A temporary injunction was dissolved, and the bill dismissed. 37 Fed. Rep. 832. Complainant appeals. Affirmed.
Statement by Mr. Justice HARLAN:
The Hamilton Gaslight & Coke Company invokes against a certain ordinance of the city of Hamilton, a municipal corporation of Ohio, the protection of the clause of the constitution of the United States which forbids the passage by a state of any law impairing the obligation of contracts, as well as the clause declaring that no state shall deprive any person of property without due process of law. By the final judgment a temporary injunction granted against the city was dissolved, and the bill dismissed. 37 Fed. Rep. 832.
The appellant became a corporation on the 6th day of July, 1855, under the general statute of Ohio of May 1, 1852, providing for the creation and regulation of incorporated companies. By the fifty-third section of that statute it was provided that any corporation formed under it should have full powers, if a gas company, to manufacture and sell and to furnish such quantities of gas 'as might be required in the city, town, or village where located, for public and private buildings, or for other purposes,' with authority to lay pipes for conducting gas through the streets, lands, alleys, and squares, in such city, town, or village, 'with the consent of the municipal authorities of said city, town, or village, and under such reasonable regulations as they may prescribe.' The fifty-fourth section gave the municipal authorities power 'to contract with any such corporation for lighting * * * the streets, lands, squares, and public places in any such city, town, or village.' 1 Swan & C. pp. 271, 300; 50 Ohio Laws, 274.
On the 11th of March, 1853, a supplementary act was passed, authorizing the city council to regulate, by ordinance, from time to time, the price which gaslight or gaslight and coke companies should charge for gas furnished to citizens, or for public buildings, streets, lanes, or alleys in such cities; and providing that such companies should in no event charge more than the price specified by ordinance of the city council, and that the city council might, by ordinance, regulate and fix the price for the rent of meters. Other sections of the act were in these words: 'Sec. 31. That, if such companies shall at any time hereafter be required by any city council, as aforesaid, to lay pipes and light any street or streets, and shall refuse or neglect for six months after being notified by authority of such city council to lay pipes and light said streets, then, and in that case, such city council may lay pipes and erect gas works for the supply of said streets, and all other streets which are not already lighted; and the said gas companies, gaslight and coke companies, shall thereafter be forever precluded from using or occupying any of the streets not already furnished with gas pipes of such companies; and such city council may have the right to open any street for the purpose of conveying gas as aforesaid. Sec. 32. That a neglect to furnish gas to the citizens or other consumers of gas, or to any city, by such companies, in conformity to the preceding section of this act, and in accordance with the prices fixed and established by ordinance of such city council, from time to time, shall forfeit all rights of such company under the charter by which it has been established; and any such city council may hereafter proceed to erect, or by ordinance empower any person or persons to erect, gasworks for the supply of gas to such city and its citizens, as fully as any gaslight or gaslight and coke company can now do, and as fully as if such companies had never been created.' Curwen St. c. 1248, pp. 2153, 2164, 2165; 51 Ohio Laws, 360.