254
The Green Bag
of Emanuel Swedenborg, was held void as against public policy in a decision rendered March 4 by the Orphans' Court of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in Estate of Frederick J. Kramph, deceased (reported in 26 Lancaster Law Review 137-144, 145-152, 153-160). The Court said:— "The Swedenborgian doctrine of fornication and concubinage smacks of the anarchistic doctrine of 'legalized prostitution.' It attacks the main foundation of our national existence, it undermines that upon which the Republic rests, it defies the very laws which courts are called upon to protect, it takes from us the most precious inheritance which has made courts of justice not only possible, but rational." Public Service Corporations. Confiscatory Rates—Burden of Proof—Depreciation Fund. U. S. Where a decree had been issued by the Circuit Court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana enjoining the enforcement of telephone rates established by a state commission, and the telephone company appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, it was held by the latter, per Mr. Justice Peckham, that the burden of proof rested upon the telephone company to prove that the rates were so low as to be confiscatory or unreasonable, and that the court below erred in saying that there was no presumption in favor of the validity of the rates established by the commission. The commission may have made erroneous infer ences with regard to such rates as it might be proper to establish, but that would be far from showing that it had acted arbitrarily without knowledge of the subject. The rates promulgated must be regarded as prima facie fair and valid. Moreover, if the money raised by the company for its depreciation fund had not been improperly added to the capital, so that dividends could be paid upon it, as urged on behalf of the state commission, the onus rested upon the telephone company to show that fact, and the Court cited Knoxville v. Knoxville Water Co., 212 U. S. 1, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 148; Willcox v. Consolidated Gas Co., 212 U. S. 19, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 192. No part of the depreciation fund can be added to the capital upon which the company is entitled to a fair return from rates established by a state commission. Railroad Commission of La. v. Cumberland Tel. & Tel. Co. (decided Feb. 23, 1909), 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 357.
Public Service Corporations. Regulation— Constitutionality of Statute. N. Y. The constitutionality of the New York Pub lic Service Commissions Act was upheld Mar. 22 by the New York Supreme Court, Appel late Division, in Gubner v. McClellan et al. (N. Y. L. J. Mar. 22). The Court confined its attention to the two constitutional questions argued :— (1) that the act offended section 16, article 3 of the state constitution, which provides that "no private or local bill which may be passed by the Legislature shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title"; (2) that it offended that portion of section 10 of article 8 of the Constitution of the state, which provides that "nor shall any such county, city, town or village be allowed to incur any indebtedness except for county, city, town or village purposes." Real Property. Vested and Contingent Re mainders—Rules of Construction. D. C. In Alexander D. Johnson et al. v. Washing ton Loan and Trust Co., decided April 7, the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia held that a remainder will not be construed to be contingent when it can be taken to be vested. In construing the intention of the testator, the Court resorted to these estab lished rules:— "1. The law will not construe a remainder to be contingent when it can be taken to be vested. 2. Estates shall be held to vest at the earliest possible period, unless there is a clear manifestation of the intention of the testator to the contrary. 3. Adverbs of time, as where, there, after, from, etc., in a devise of a remainder are construed to relate merely to the time of the enjoyment of the estate, and not the time of vesting in inter est." (Washington Law Reporter Apr. 9, 1909.) Negligence. Duty of Railroad to Fence— Railroads. U. S. A Tennessee statute provides that railroad companies shall be liable for all stock killed unless their tracks are properly fenced. In Gill v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 165 Fed. Rep. 438, an action was brought to recover for the death of an engineer caused by a collision with a cow. The United States Circuit Court held that neither the common law nor the statute imposed any liability upon a railroad for the death of its employee caused by an unfenced track.
