Cole

The plaintiff is a turnpike road company, incorporated under the act of May 12, 1853, as amended by the act of April 28, 1857 (Statutes 1853, p. 169; 1857, p. 280), and the action is to enforce the payment of tolls by the defendant. The right of the plaintiff to demand tolls is derived from and wholly regulated by the act under which it was incorporated, and is in no degree affected by the act of March 14, 1868, entitled, “An Act to enlarge the powers of the Board of Supervisors of the county of San Joaquin.’’ (Statutes 1857-8, p. 169.) The last-named act, in so far as it authorizes the Board of Supervisors to grant to a turnpike corporation franchises to be enjoyed and exercised within that county, which are not common to all other similar corporations under the general law, is unconstitutional and void. (San Francisco v. Spring Valley Water Works, 48 Cal. 493 .) The act is obnoxious to several objections, on this ground: It requires the Board of Supervisors to authorize the corporation to collect such tolls as will produce a net revenue not exceeding twelve per cent, per annum on the amount expended; limits the franchise to twenty years, at the end of which term the road is to…