railroad

That railroads, though constructed by private corporations and owned by them, are public highways, has been the doctrine of nearly all the courts ever since such conveniences for passage and transportation have had any existence.

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or RAILWAY. The terms "railroad" and "railway" are synonymous. 30 Minn. 524. Their significance varies with the context, being used sometimes to include all appurtenances (173 111. 521, 46 N. J. Law, 289; 58 Pa. St, 252), and sometimes as including only the immovable structure, graded and railed for the use of trains (93 U. S. 442). Ordinarily, when used without qualifying words, the term "railroad" means those railroads specially laid out and graded having parallel rails of iron or steel for the wheels of carriages drawn by steam or other motive power, to run upon, 156 111. 294, but in some connections it has been held to include street or horse railroads. 24 111. 52.

A road graded and having rails of iron or other material for the wheels of railroad cars to run upon. In their modern form, railroads are usually owned by corporations; Denver & S. R. Co. v. It. Co., 2 Colo. 673. But a private individual may construct and work a railroad I if he can obtain a right of way by purchase; Appeal of Me Candless, 70 Pa. 210; L. R. 4

A road or way on which iron or steel rails are laid for wheels to run on, for the conveyance of heavy loads in cars or carriages propelled by steam or other motive power. The word "railway" is of exactly equivalent import. Whether or not this term includes roads operated by horse-power, electricity, cablelines, etc., will generally depend upon the context of the statute in which it is found The decisions on this point are at variance.

— Railroad commission. A body of commissioners, appointed in several of the states, to regulate railway traffic within the state, with power, generally, to regulate and fix rates, see to the enforcement of police ordinances, and sometimes assess the property of railroads for taxation. See Southern Pac. Co. v. Board of Railroad Co.m'rs (C. C.) 78 Fed. 252.

The question has been mooted whether the general term railroad includes horse or street railroads, or is confined to those run by steam. The decisions differ; and the rule seems to be that, in this respect, the meaning depends on the context and general intent. The word itself may have either meaning. A statute making " the proprietors of any railroad " liable for injuries from negligence of the servants, &c., has been held to include horserailways. Johnson v. Louisville City K. Co., 10 Bush, 231. And an act giving certain powers to "railroads" was held to embrace horse-railways, in Chicago V. Evans, 24 III. 52. But where the legislature enacted that no other railroad than that of such corporation should be constructed between certain prescribed limits, and that any railroad which might be constructed in a direction named should connect with the road of such corporation on reasonable terms, it was held that the term railroad did not comprise street-railways, and that an injunction could not be granted restraining the constructing of streetrailways, or requiring the connection of such a railway with the road in question. Louisville, &c. R. R. Co. v. Louisvi Ue, &c. R. R. Co., 2Zi™. 175. It was at one time held in New York that the provision of the internal revenue act of congress which authorized railroad companies to add the revenue tax to their fares included street-railroads, and empowered them to make such insistit, ne ea quidem quae sequuutur locum habent. When the principal subject-matter no longer exists, those things which follow it have no longer any place. This maxim is an expression of one form of the general doctrine that the incident follows, or falls with, its principal. See the maxim, accessorium non ducit, sed sequiiur, suum principale. Pv. The word may fairly be understood as including sidings and branches; but does not necessarily include the rollingstock. Yet a power to a company to mortgage its road implies power to mortgage the franchise and the rolling-stock. In an act of incorporation of a railroad from a coal district to a navigable river, the word railroad, ex vi termini^ includes sidings, branches to wharves, &c. Black v. Philadelphia, &c. R. B. Co., 58 Pa. St. 249. A provision in a legislative grant of land for a railroad, that said railroad shall be a public highway for the use of the government, free of toll, for the transportation of property or troops, secures to the government the free use of the roadway and track, but not the. right to use the rolling-stock. Lake Superior, &c. R. R. Co. v. United States, 93 U. S. 442. A power given by statute " to pledge the entire road, fixtures, and equipments, with all the appurtenances, income, and resources thereof," authorizes a mortgage of the road itself, and of the franchise or right to operate the road. It also necessarily authorizes a transfer of rolling-stock and equipments afterwards to be acquired, as this is necessary to the security which a mortgage of the right to operate the road is intended to afford. Coe v. Columbus, &c. R. R. Co., 10 Ohio St. 372. A railroad is a public highway sub modo only, and to be used in a special way, — that of transporting passengers and freight along the road in cars. It is not a highway in the sense of being free for all the people of the state to pass and repass over it, on foot, on horseback, and in carriages and wagons. State v. Johnson, Phill. L. 140.