Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Superior Court

The petition for a transfer of this cause for rehearing in the supreme court after decision in the district court of appeal is denied without regard to the merits of the controversy between the real parties in interest, and upon the sole ground that in our opinion the remedy by prohibition is not available to the petitioners. It is sought by this proceeding to prohibit the superior court from hearing an application by a foreign corporation to condemn private property for a public use upon the ground that the superior court has no jurisdiction to listen to such an application by such a party.

It is true that the capacity of a foreign corporation to exercise the power of eminent domain in this state is purely a question of law, but it is a question as much within the jurisdiction of the superior court as other questions of law arising in similar cases which are held to be reviewable here only on appeal.

We have deemed it proper to make this explicit statement of our reasons for refusing to transfer the cause to this court for a further hearing, in order to guard against the assumption that the decision of the district court of appeal upon the questions therein so fully discussed…

The Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, a corporation organized and existing under and by authority of the laws of the state of New York, commenced an action in the'superior court in and for the county of Sacramento, on the twenty-sixth day of J une, 1909, for the purpose of obtaining a judgment condemning a portion of the property of said petitioners, Southern Pacific Company and the Central Pacific Railway Company, situated in the county of Sacramento, “for the con *682 struetion, maintenance and operation of a telegraph line, by the erection of poles and the stringing of telegraph wires thereon.” Said company claims, as is manifest from the fact of having instituted said proceeding, that, under the laws of California, it has the right to exercise the power of eminent domain in this state.

Contending, however, that foreign telegraph corporations are not authorized by the laws of California to exercise the right of eminent domain, the petitioners have applied to this court for a writ of prohibition to prevent the respondents from taking further proceedings in said action and to compel them to refrain and desist from further entertaining the same.

To the petition a demurrer and a…

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 681 The Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, a corporation organized and existing under and by authority of the laws of the state of New York, commenced an action in the superior court in and for the county of Sacramento, on the twenty-sixth day of June, 1909, for the purpose of obtaining a judgment condemning a portion of the property of said petitioners, Southern Pacific Company and the Central Pacific Railway Company, situated in the county of Sacramento, "for the construction, *Page 682 maintenance and operation of a telegraph line, by the erection of poles and the stringing of telegraph wires thereon." Said company claims, as is manifest from the fact of having instituted said proceeding, that, under the laws of California, it has the right to exercise the power of eminent domain in this state. Contending, however, that foreign telegraph corporations are not authorized by the laws of California to exercise the right of eminent domain, the petitioners have applied to this court for a writ of prohibition to prevent the respondents from taking…