Sec. 5. All railroads shall be public highways, and all railroad, transportation and express companies shall be common carriers and subject to legislative control, and the legislative assembly shall have the power to regulate and control by law the rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight by such companies as common carriers from one point to another in the state. Any association or corporation, organized for the purpose, shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad between any designated points within this state and to connect at the state line with railroads of other states and territories. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with, or cross any other railroad. B. A. & P. Ry. vs. Mont. Union Ry., 16 Mont. 504. Sec. 6. No railroad corporation, express or other transportation company, or the lessees or managers thereof, shall consolidate its stock, property or franchise, with any other railroad corporation, express or other transportation company, owning or having under its control a parallel or competing line; neither shall it in any manner unite its business or earnings with the business or earnings of any other railroad corporation; nor shall any officer of such railroad, express or other transportation company act as an officer of any other railroad, express or other transportation company owning or having control of a parallel or competing line. State ex rel Atty Genl. vs. Mont. Ry. Company, 21 Mont. 221. Sec. 7. All individuals, associations, and corporations shall have equal rights to have persons or property transported on and over any railroad, transportation or express route in this state. No discrimination in charges or facilities for transportation of freight or passengers of the same class shall be made by any railroad, or transportation, or express company, between persons or places within this state; but excursion or commutation tickets may be issued and sold at special rates, provided such rates are the same to all persons. No railroad or transportation, or express company shall be allowed to charge, collect, or receive, under penalties which the legislative assembly shall prescribe, any greater charge or toll for the transportation of freight or passengers to any place or station upon its route or line, than it charges for the transportation of the same class of freight or passengers to any more distant place or station upon its route or line within this state. No railroad, express, or transportation company, nor any lessee, manager, or other employe thereof, shall give any preference to any individual, association or corporation, in furnishing cars or motive power, or for the transportation of money or other express matter. B. A. & P. Ry. vs. Mont. Union Ry. 16 Mont. 504. Sec. 8. No railroad, express, or other transportation company, in existence at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall have the benefit of any future legislation, without first filing in the office of the secretary of state an acceptance of the provisions of this constitution in binding form. Sec. 9. The right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the legislative assembly form taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies, and subjecting them to public use the same as the property of individuals; and the police powers of the state shall never be abridged, or so construed, as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals, or the general well being of the state. B. A. & P. Ry. vs. Mont. Union, 16 Mont. 504. Sec. 10. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds, except for labor done, services performed, or money and property actually received; and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock of corporations shall not be increased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons holding a majority of the stock first obtained at a meeting held after at least thirty days' notice given in pursuance of law. Sec. 11. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this state without having one or more known places of business, and an authorized agent or agents in the same, upon whom process may be served. And no company or corporation formed under the laws of any other country, state or territory, shall have, or be allowed to exercise, or enjoy within this state any greater rights or privileges than those possessed or enjoyed by corporations of the same or similar character created under the laws of the state. Criswell vs. Mont. Cent. Ry., 18 Mont. 167. Wastl vs. Mont. Union Ry., 24 Mont. 159. MacGinnis vs. B. & M., Etc. Co., 29 Mont. 429. State vs. Aetna Bank, 34 Mont. 379. First Nat'l Bank of Butte vs. Weidenback, 97 Fed. 896. Sec. 12. No street or other railroad shall be constructed within any city or town without the consent of the local authorities having control of the street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street or other railroad. State ex rel. Co. vs. City of Red Lodge, 30 Mont. 338. Sec. 13. The legislative assembly shall pass no law for the benefit of a railroad or other corporation, or any individual or association of individuals, retrospective in its operation, or which imposes on the people of any county or municipal subdivision of the state, a new liability in respect to transactions or considerations already passed. State ex rel. vs. Dickerman, 16 Mont. 278. Sec. 14. Any association or corporation, or the lessees or managers thereof, organized for the purpose, or any individual, shall have the right to construct or maintain line of telegraph or telephone within this state, and connect the same with other lines; and the legislative assembly shall by general law of uniform operation provide reasonable regulations to give full effect to this section. No telegraph or telephone company shall consolidate with, or hold a controlling interest in, the stock or bonds of any other telegraph or telephone company owning or having the control of a competing line, or acquired by purchase or otherwise, any other competing line of telegraph or telephone. MacGinnis vs. B. & M. Co., 29 Mont. 429. State ex rel. vs. City of Red Lodge, 30 Mont. 338. State ex rel. vs. City of Helena, 34 Mont. 67. Sec. 15. If any railroad, telegraph, telephone, express or other corporation or company organized under any of the laws of this state, shall consolidate, by sale or otherwise, with any railroad, telegraph, telephone, express, or other corporation, organized under any of the laws of any other state or territory of the United States, the same shall not thereby become a foreign corporation, but the courts of this state shall retain jurisdiction over that part of the corporate property within the limits of the state in all matters that may arise as if said consolidation had not taken place.* Sec. 16. It shall be unlawful for any person, company or corporation to require of its servants or employes, as a condition of their employment or otherwise, any contract or agreement whereby such persons, company or corporation, shall be released or discharged from liability or responsibility on account of personal injuries received by such servants or employes while in the service of such person, company or corporation, by reason of negligence of such person, company or corporation, or the agents or employes thereof; and such contracts shall be absolutely null and void. Schmidt vs. Mont. Etc. Ry., 15 Mont. 106. Criswell vs. Mont. Etc. Ry., 18 Mont. 166. Sec. 17. The legislative assembly shall not pass any law permitting the leasing or alienation of any franchise so as to release or relieve the franchise or property held thereunder from any of the liabilities of the lessor or grantor, or lessee or grantee, contracted or incurred in the operation, use or enjoyment of such franchise, or any of its privileges. Lee vs. So. Pac. Ry., 38 L. R. A. 71. Central Trust Co. vs. Warren, 121 Fed. 323. Sec. 18. The term "corporation", as used in this article, shall be held and construed to include all associations and joint stock companies, having or exercising any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships; and all corporations shall have the right to sue, and shall be subject to be sued in all courts in like cases as natural persons, subject to such regulations and conditions as may be prescribed by law. Sec. 19. Dues from private corporations shall be secured by such means as may be prescribed by law. Sec. 20. No incorporation, stock company, person or association of persons in the state of Montana, shall directly, or indirectly combne or form what is known as a trust, or make and contract with any person, or persons, corporations or stock company, foreign or domestic, through their stockholders, trustees, or in any manner whatever, for the purpose of fixing the price, or regulating the production of any article of commerce, or of the product of the soil, for consumption by the people. The legislative assembly shall pass laws for the enforcement thereof by adequate penalties to the extent, if necessary for that purpose, of the forfeiture of their property and franchises, and in case of foreign corporations prohibiting them from carrying on business in the state. MacGinnis vs. B. & M. Co., 29 Mont. 428. COMPILATION OF MONTANA LAWS AFFECTING RAILROADS. POLITICAL CODE. 165 (§ 410.) FEES OF SECRETARY OF STATE. The Secretary of State, for services performed in his office, must charge and collect the following fees: I. For each copy of any law, resolution or record, or other document or paper on file in his office, twenty cents per folio. II. For affixing certificate and seal, One Dollar. III. For issuing each certificate of incorporation and each certificate of increase of capital stock, Three Dollars. IV. For recording and filing each certificate of incorporation and each certificate of increase of capital stock, the following amounts shall be charged: Amounts up to $100,000.00, Fifty Lents per Thousand Dollars. Additional from $100,000.00 to $250,000.00, Forty Cents per Thousand Dollars. Additional from $250,000.00 to $500,000.00, Thirty Cents per Thousand Dollars. Additional from $500,000.00 to $1,000,000.00, twenty cents per Thousand Dollars. Additional over $1,000,000.00, Ten Cents per Thousand Dollars. Providing that no fee for filing any atricles of incorporation on increase of capital stock shall be less than $20.00, except religious societies, churches, and organization for religious purposes, not having a capital stock, and not being organized for the purpose of profit. V. For issuing each certificate of decrease of capital stock, Three Dollars. VI. For recording and filing each certificate of decrease of capital stock, Five Dollars. VII. For issuing each certificate of continuance of corporate existence, Three Dollars. VIII. For recording and filing each certificate of continuance of corporate existence, the following amounts shall be charged: Amounts up to $10,000.00, Twenty-five Cents per Thousand Dollars. |