Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Energy and Utilities Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

State and Local Government Law

Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 751 - 778 of 778

Full-Text Articles in Energy and Utilities Law

Public Utilities - Municipal Corporations - Power Of Municipal Corporations To Regulate Public Utility Rates - Finality Of Such Regulation, John S. Pennell Nov 1940

Public Utilities - Municipal Corporations - Power Of Municipal Corporations To Regulate Public Utility Rates - Finality Of Such Regulation, John S. Pennell

Michigan Law Review

Since the decision in the case of Munn v. Illinois it has been settled that where property is devoted to a public use and is charged with a public interest, the state may prescribe reasonable rates for such public service. However, the question then arises as to the manner in which the state may prescribe these rates, through what agencies it may act, and the effect on the total picture of rate regulation within a state after there has been action by one of the proper agencies. The answers to these questions depend to a large extent upon the particular …


Public Utilities - Due Process - Validity Of Order Reducing Intrastate Telephone Rates To Conform To Interstate Rates, Michigan Law Review Jun 1940

Public Utilities - Due Process - Validity Of Order Reducing Intrastate Telephone Rates To Conform To Interstate Rates, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, by order of March 15, 1938, required appellant, the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, to reduce its intrastate toll rates for distances exceeding thirty-six miles so as to conform to rates charged by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for comparable distances for interstate services. After full hearing the commission based its order upon .findings that the interstate American Company offered at substantially lower rates the very same service, with identical facilities, accorded by its intrastate subsidiary, plus the additional service furnished by a connecting company, and that hence the higher intrastate rates constituted an …


Inconsistencies In Public Utility Depreciation: Deduction Of Depreciation For Rate Base Purposes, Robert D. Haun Feb 1940

Inconsistencies In Public Utility Depreciation: Deduction Of Depreciation For Rate Base Purposes, Robert D. Haun

Michigan Law Review

When considering depreciation for rate base purposes the courts and the commissions speak of accrued depreciation, existing depreciation, actual depreciation, complete depreciation, realized depreciation, incomplete depreciation, and observed depreciation. Accrued, existing and actual depreciation all have the same meaning.


Public Utilities - Franchises - Enforceability Against Utility Of Franchise Provision Regarding Rates When City Is Not Bound, Menefee D. Blackwell Apr 1939

Public Utilities - Franchises - Enforceability Against Utility Of Franchise Provision Regarding Rates When City Is Not Bound, Menefee D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The charter of the city of Texarkana, Texas, provided that none of the privileges usually granted public utilities should be enjoyed in the city except such as were permitted by franchise given by the city council, and that such franchises should expressly reserve the right of regulating the utilities. The city entered a franchise agreement with respondent utility by which rates charged in the Texas city were not to be higher than those charged in another part of the city which was in Arkansas. The Arkansas rates were lowered by judicial action, and this proceeding was to enforce the lower …


Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell Feb 1939

Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The city of Miami gave a franchise to a utility to sell electric power, providing that after a stated period of time it should have the right to charge rates which would enable it to have an annual return of at least ten per cent on the rate base over and above operating expenses. The right to set rates, however, was made "subject to the lawful regulatory authority of the city or state commission having jurisdiction," and it was further provided that "this grant shall at all times be subject to the right of the state of Florida, directly or …


Public Utilities - Rate Regulation - Reproduction Cost And Prudent Investment As Factors In Determining "Fair Value", Erwin B. Ellmann Mar 1938

Public Utilities - Rate Regulation - Reproduction Cost And Prudent Investment As Factors In Determining "Fair Value", Erwin B. Ellmann

Michigan Law Review

At a hearing conducted by the California Railroad Commission, the existing gas rates charged by a utility were deemed unreasonable, and a new schedule of rates was prescribed. The commission, in determining the rate base, used historical cost exclusively, and refused to attach any weight to the present cost of reproducing the properties. A three-judge federal court enjoined the enforcement of the rates without making a finding that as prescribed the rates were confiscatory. Held, by a majority of the Court, the trial court was without power to enjoin the enforcement of the rates, regardless of the method of …


Public Utilities - Charging Companies With Expense Of Investigation - Constitutionality Jun 1936

Public Utilities - Charging Companies With Expense Of Investigation - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

A Washington statute provides that whenever the public service commission shall deem it necessary in the performance of its duties to make any investigation or valuation of a public service company, the public service company shall pay the expenses reasonably attributable thereto. The statute provides that the commission, after giving an opportunity to be heard, "shall render a bill therefor or for such part thereof as it may find necessary and reasonable." In an appeal by certain public service companies from an assessment made by the commission, held, the statute was unconstitutional because of denial of equal protection of …


Public Utilities-Injunction Restraining Enforcement Of Rate Order Of State Commission-Jurisdiction Of Federal Court Under Johnson Act Jun 1936

Public Utilities-Injunction Restraining Enforcement Of Rate Order Of State Commission-Jurisdiction Of Federal Court Under Johnson Act

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs sued in a federal district court for an injunction restraining enforcement of an order of the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma reducing gas rates. The plaintiffs alleged that the new rates were confiscatory and in violation of due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment. It appeared that there was much uncertainty in the decisions of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma as to whether the appeal to that court from the orders of the Corporation Commission were legislative or judicial. Held, that in view of the uncertainty of an opportunity for judicial review of the orders of the Commission, …


Public Utilities - Holding Companies - Power Of State Commission To Regulate Intercorporate Charges Jan 1935

Public Utilities - Holding Companies - Power Of State Commission To Regulate Intercorporate Charges

Michigan Law Review

The Public Service Commission of Kansas issued an order directing nine local gas companies to cease setting up as an item of operating expense more than a certain amount for gas being furnished the companies by an interstate pipe line company. The nine distributing companies and the pipe line company, all of which were affiliated companies within the meaning of a Kansas statute and ultimately controlled by the same holding company, secured an injunction in the three-judge federal court, and the commission appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Held, that the injunction should not have been granted. State …


Public Utilities-Street Railway Regulation By State Commission In Home Rule City-Permission To Withdraw From Service Nov 1934

Public Utilities-Street Railway Regulation By State Commission In Home Rule City-Permission To Withdraw From Service

Michigan Law Review

A street railway company, located in a city with a home rule charter adopted in accordance with the state constitution, petitioned the state railway commission and was granted authority to curtail its transportation by buses. The company had been in bad financial condition during recent years; the number of passengers carried had been substantially decreasing, and the company was not able to pay full interest on bonded debt. Upon the insistence of the city, the company had put bus lines in operation several years earlier and these had continually been operating at a deficit. Upon appeal, the court held that …


Public Utilities-Rate Base-Allowance For Depreciation Jun 1934

Public Utilities-Rate Base-Allowance For Depreciation

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff toll bridge company appealed from an order of the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission which set a value for rate-making purposes on their bridge property, constructed in 1924-25, identical to the original valuation order of 1926, for the rate-base as of February 2, 1932. The order allowed a depreciation deduction annually which, with 4 per cent simple interest, would amount to enough to replace the bridge at the end of its estimated period of usefulness. The company claimed the order was confiscatory, as based solely on original cost, without taking into account current cost of reproduction; and that interest should …


The Municipality As A Unit In Ratemaking And Confiscation Cases, Robert D. Armstrong Jan 1934

The Municipality As A Unit In Ratemaking And Confiscation Cases, Robert D. Armstrong

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the so-called Martinsville case has been interpreted by some critics as laying down a "municipal unit doctrine" of rate making, denying to a system utility the right to earn from its entire operations a fair return on the value of its entire property, and substituting therefor a "bundle of rights" to earn in each "municipality" served a fair return on the value of the property used and useful therefor.


The Public Services Commission Of Maryland, Robert A. Maurer Jun 1933

The Public Services Commission Of Maryland, Robert A. Maurer

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Publicly Owned Utilities And The Problem Of Municipal Debt Limits, Lawrence L. Durisch Feb 1933

Publicly Owned Utilities And The Problem Of Municipal Debt Limits, Lawrence L. Durisch

Michigan Law Review

The far-reaching contest being waged between the advocates of municipal ownership of public utilities and the private ownership group, between those who "want the government to get out of business" and those who desire to see an increase in its proprietary functions, has produced a number of sharp legal controversies. One of the most interesting of these, recently litigated in a number of state courts, is whether an obligation incurred for the purchase or repair of a municipally-owned utility is a "municipal debt" within the meaning of constitutional or statutory debt limits. Because of the wide-spread interest in, and the …


Public Utilities-Power Of Commissoin To Change Rates Set In Franchise Granted By Legislature Feb 1931

Public Utilities-Power Of Commissoin To Change Rates Set In Franchise Granted By Legislature

Michigan Law Review

The Dry Dock Company was given franchises by the legislature to operate street railways in New York City, by Laws 1860, c. 512, and Laws 1866, cc. 866, 868, 883. These special laws fixed a five-cent maximum fare. Much later, the Public Service Commission Law (Cons. laws, c. 48) was enacted. Sec. 29 of this provided that, "unless the commission otherwise orders, no change shall be made in any rate * * * which shall have been filed and published by a common carrier * * * except after 30 days' notice to the commission * * * and all …


The West Virginia Water Power Act, James W. Simonton Dec 1930

The West Virginia Water Power Act, James W. Simonton

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Public Utility Valuation For Rate Making Purposes Nov 1927

Public Utility Valuation For Rate Making Purposes

Michigan Law Review

Ever since Munn v. Illinois (1876) 94 U. S. 113, which first decided that the charges to be made for services rendered by public utilities were to be subject to governmental regulation, the courts have been confronted with a problem, so elusive and indefinite, that over five decades of litigation and wrangling have failed to provide a satisfactory solution. The so called "rule" of Smyth v. Ames (1898) 169 U. S. 466, specifying the elements to be considered in ascertaining the value of public utilities for the purpose of rate-making, has only served to submerge the problem further in its …


The Indeterminate Permit For Public Utilities, E. Blythe Stason Feb 1927

The Indeterminate Permit For Public Utilities, E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

Public utilities possess the privilege of furnishing services to the public and most of them use the streets, highways and public places to deliver their services to their customers. Franchises are required to confer the privilege of serving and to authorize the use of public property. Franchises were formerly perpetual; more recently they have been limited to short terms of years; and now we are acquiring still another variety-the indeterminate permit. The last deserves more than a casual acquaintanceship. In fact, it demands close scrutiny. Rightly conceived, it is a device of decided promise. Conceived in unfairness, partiality or ignorance, …


Book Reviews Mar 1926

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.


Distinction Between Governmental And Proprietary Functions Of Municipal Corporations, Delmar W. Doddridge Feb 1925

Distinction Between Governmental And Proprietary Functions Of Municipal Corporations, Delmar W. Doddridge

Michigan Law Review

There are many places in the law where the making of a distinction has resulted in a difficulty in application that has greatly increased litigation, but there are few places where this is more true than in the distinction made between the governmental and the proprietary functions of municipal corporations. The distinction has taken a firm grip upon the law of municipal corporations and seems well settled, although its propriety as applied to particular subjects may be doubted. The terminology of the distinction is in itself productive of doubt, the function or duty in the one branch being denominated "governmental", …


Fair Value Of Public Utilities, Edwin C. Goddard Jun 1924

Fair Value Of Public Utilities, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

Such being the decisions, we turn to the practical working of the theories that have been applied. The law is a practical subject. Even in so sacred a matter as protection of property, rules of law should regard the practical results of any theory. A theory that works badly, presumptively at least, is defective, and may be wrong. The guaranties of the Constitution were made for man, not man for the guaranties, and a conception of property that does not work out for the advantage of man may raise a query whether the Constitution demands that conception. It was that …


Is A Municipal Fuel Yard A 'Public Service Plant'?, Evans Holbrook Jan 1923

Is A Municipal Fuel Yard A 'Public Service Plant'?, Evans Holbrook

Articles

In Consumers' Coal Co. et al. v. City of Lincoln, et al. (Neb. 1922) 189 N. W. 643, the supreme court of Nebraska held that a municipal fuel-yard, selling fuel at retail to the inhabitants of the city, was not a "public service plant" authorized by a section of the city charter which empowered the city to acquire, own and operate gas and electric plants, street railways, telephone plants, "and any and all other public service plants and properties, for the purpose of supplying the city and the inhabitants thereof with such service and public utilities." The suit was brought …


Public Utilities—Franchise Rates As Affected By The World War, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1920

Public Utilities—Franchise Rates As Affected By The World War, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The economic convulsions due to the World War are abundantly reflected in the relations between the public and their public utilities operating under franchises fixing rates for service. The enormous rise in cost of labor and materials has, in many cases, so reduced the net income of such utilities as to make it a negative quantity at existing franchise rates. The utilities are crying to be saved from bankruptcy, but the unfortunate suspicion bred by past dealings of many such companies has made the public skeptical, and perhaps in many cases entirely unreasonable. In some cases plain selfishness may explain …


Public Utility Valuation - Cost Of Reproduction Theory And The World War, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1920

Public Utility Valuation - Cost Of Reproduction Theory And The World War, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The very grave objections to the cost-of-reproduction theory of valuation of public utilities was pointed out at large in 15 MICH. L. REV. 205. The violent price changes following the World War have greatly increased the weight of these objections to calling anything a base which rests on such uncertainties and fluctuations as cost-of-reproduction. A base should be stable, but this has the stability Of a flying machine. There had been a rising curve of costs from 1893 to 1916, but since that date the rise has been almost vertical. The public utilities by- the thousands desire to take advantage …


Public Utility Valuation - Going-Concern Value In Rate Making, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1918

Public Utility Valuation - Going-Concern Value In Rate Making, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

What is the effect of a city ordinance which proposes to a public utility company the terms on which it may dispose of its product to the users, but which is rejected by the company? As to a company not yet doing business it is clear that the ordinance when rejected becomes a mere legal nullity. It never was more than an offer that might ripen into a binding contract by acceptance. That it is by no means a nullity as to a utility actually operating in the city after the expiration of its franchise and as a mere tenant …


Valuing Property And Franchises Of Public Service Corporations For Fixing Rates, Horace Lafayette Wilgus Jan 1909

Valuing Property And Franchises Of Public Service Corporations For Fixing Rates, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

The Supreme Court of the United States has recently decided two important cases relating to the proper valuation of the property of public service corporations for the purpose of fixing rates to be charged for their services. These are Knoxille v. Knoxville Water Company, 211 U. S.--. 29 S. C. 148, and Willcox Y. Consolidated Gas Co.. -- U. S. --. 29 S. C. 192,a both decided January 4, 1909.


Liability Of Water Companies For Fire Losses, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1906

Liability Of Water Companies For Fire Losses, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

In two recent articles published'in this Review, the question of the liability of water companies for fire losses was somewhat exhaustively discussed. The majority of the actions wherein it has been sought to hold water companies liable for fire losses suffered by private property owners, have been brought for breach of contract. In a few cases the theory adopted was that the water company owed a duty to all property owners, by reason of the public character of its service; and the fact that it was under contract with the city to furnish an adequate water supply and pressure for …


The Liability Of Water Companies For Fire Losses, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1905

The Liability Of Water Companies For Fire Losses, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

It is a general principle, of very wide application, that a municipal corporation, in the absence of a statute, is not obliged to undertake the execution of governmental functions respecting the health, peace or property of its citizens. Nor is such corporation liable for the insufficient or negligent execution of such functions in case it undertakes to perform them. The ground of this exemption is that the municipality, in these matters, exercises discretionary powers conferred upon it by the state, and acts, not for itself in its corporate capacity, but for the general public as an agent of the central …