"This is not the place, nor are we disposed, to read a homily upon the wisdom of legislative grants, or the moralities of moneyed speculations in stocks on the exchange or elsewhere. But it would seem that legislation upon this subject should be conducted with sufficient deliberation and firmness so as not to invest such incorporations with such unlimited powers as to operate as a net to catch the unwary, or as a gulf in which to bury out of sight the most disastrous results to private fortunes, which has justly rendered American investments, taken as a whole, a reproach wherever the name has traveled."
The opinion is expressed in this work that under certain circumstances railroad securities should be aided by State credit, and is supported by the following argument:
"Here we have no national funded stock in convenient sums for small investment, and which, being sure, is really a great blessing to the mass of those who wish to invest moderate sums as a protection against age or calamity. In those countries where such opportunities exist, it removes all temptation to invest small sums in these enterprises, which, however necessary for the public, such small owners can but poorly afford to aid in carrying forward, and which consequently should in justice either be guaranteed or owned by the State, or at all events aided by State credit, when they become indispensable for the public convenience."
Upon the subject of eminent domain Redfield says:
"That railways are but improved highways, and are of such public use as to justify the exercise of the right of eminent domain, by the sovereign, in their construction, is now almost universally conceded."
Kent says in his "Commentaries on American Law":
"The right of eminent domain, or inherent sovereign power, gives to the legislature the control of private property for public uses, and for public uses only.... So, lands adjoining New York canals were made liable to be assumed for the public use, so far as was necessary for the great object of the canals.... In these and other instances which might be enumerated, the interest of the public is deemed paramount to that of any private individual; and yet, even here, the constitutions of the United States and of most of the States of the Union have imposed a great and valuable check upon the exercise of legislative power, by declaring that private property should not be taken for public use without just compensation.... It undoubtedly must rest, as a general rule, in the wisdom of the legislature to determine when public uses require the assumption of private property; but if they should take it for a purpose not of a public nature, as if the legislature should take the property of A and give it to B, or if they should vacate a grant of property, or of a franchise, under the pretext of some public use or service, such cases would be gross abuses of their discretion, and fraudulent attacks on private right, and the law would clearly be unconstitutional and void."
Concerning the construction of corporate powers Kent lays down the following rule:
"The modern doctrine is to consider corporations as having such powers as are specifically granted by the act of incorporation, or as are necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the powers expressly granted, and as having no other. The Supreme Court of the United States declared this obvious doctrine, and it has been repeated in the decisions of the State courts. No rule of law comes with a more reasonable application, considering how lavishly charter privileges have been granted. As corporations are the mere creatures of law, established for special purposes, and derive all their powers from the acts creating them, it is perfectly just and proper that they should be obliged strictly to show their authority for the business they assume, and be confined in their operations to the mode and manner and subject matter prescribed."
As to the duties of common carriers he says: