Excerpt from The Philadelphia and Erie R. R. Co., Et Al. Vs. The Catawissa R. R. Co., Et Al.; Andrew Scott Vs. The Atlantic and Gt. West. R. W. Co., Et Al: In the Supreme Court of Penn'a, Eastern District, January Term, 1866; Opinion of Court, and Decree

We find, therefore - not in the agreement by which the Cata wissa Company held this appurtenance, nor in their charter, but in these enabling statutes - the requisite authority and power to transfer to the Atlantic and Great Western Company the samerights on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, between Milton and Williamsport, which the Catawissa Company acquired and held by virtue of the agreement of thirty-first October, 1860; and we see no provision of the agreement that is violated by such transfer, and consequently there is no forfeiture.

As to the consent of the Philadelphia and Erie Company to the transfer, there is nothing in the contract that stipulates for it, and hence we cannot think it necessary. If it was appre hended that the contract might pass into the hands of a rival Company, the power of transfer should have been restrained by suitable stipulations. If the legislative authority to transfer (lid not exist under the Act of 1847 and 1859, the facility with which such authority could be obtained was well known, and should have been guarded against in framing the agreement, but was not. To annex so valuable an appurtenance to the Catawissa Read, and make it, for twenty years, virtually a part of that road, without restraint or qualification, was to subject it to the chances of a lease, and to the provisions of all existing and subsequent legislation. It is too late now to complain that it has passed into the hands of a rival.

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