City of San José v. San José & Santa Clara R.R.

The franchise granted by the Act of March 24th, 1868, to Bishop and his associates, to construct a railroad track along and through certain streets of the City of San José, and to run cars thereon, is not a contract in such sense as to exempt the business or occupation of operating the road from all proper police regulations, or from taxation in the same manner as other occupations may'be taxed, under legislative authority. ( Cooley on Taxation, 385-86; Frankford etc. R. R. Co. v. Phila delphia, 58 Pa. St. 119; Johnson v. Philadelphia, 60 Pa. St. 445.)

The charter of the City of San José, in defining the powers of the Common Council, authorizes it, amongst other things, “ to license and regulate all and every kind of business authorized by law, and transacted and carried on in said city, and to fix the rates of license tax upon said business.” In construing a similar power conferred upon the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, we said in Ex parte Frank, *481 52 Cal. 606 , “ when the power conferred upon the corporation, as in this case, is to ' license and regulate? callings and occupations, a question has sometimes arisen in the Courts, whether, under…