Memphis & Little Rock Railroad Co. (as reorganized) v. Berry et al.
road company, authorizing the company to mortgage its charter and works, and exempting it from taxation, does not transfer the exemption to the purchasers under the mortgage. Exemption from taxation granted to a railroad corporation is not attached to the road and property, and does not pass with it, but is a personal immunity and incapable of transfer without express statutory direction.
APPEAL from Pulaski Chancery Court.
HON. D. W. CARROLL, Chancellor.
B. C. Brown and J. M. Rose, for Appellant.
By sections 9 and 28 of the Act 1853, January 11, the M. & L. R.R. Co. was given authority to mortgage its charter, and was exempted from taxation for twenty years from its completion. By the foreclosure and purchase, the purchasers became the owners of the original charter, and entitled to all the exemptions thereby granted, including exemption from taxation.
The answer admits all the material allegations of the bill. Gantt's Dig., Sec. 4608.
The exemption constitutes a contract between the State and the corporation, which cannot be impaired by subsequent legislation. 18 Wall., 351; 13 Ib., 264; 8 Ib., 430; 7 Cr., 164; 1 Black, 536; 20 Wall., 36; 4 Wheat., 518; 18 Wall, 206; 21 Ib., 497; 15 Ib., 460; 30 Ark., 677; Ib., 693; Ib., 128. Nor can it be impaired by a constitutional provision. 13 Wall, 646; 25 Ark., 625.
Section 9, Act January 11, 1853, expressly gives the company power to mortgage its charter and works, and the purchasers succeeded to all the rights and were entitled to all the exemptions of the old company, and had the right to organize by complying with the provisions of the charter. The grant of a power implies everything necessary to carry that power into effect. Cooley, Const. Lim., 64, 194, N. 1; 2 Cr., 358; 4 Wheat., 428; 25 Ark., 289, 299; 70 Ill., 634. In granting the charter, all incidental powers
