Richmond v. Southern Bell Tel. & Teleg. Co., 174 U.S. 761 (1899)

Richmond v. Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company

No. 284

Argued April 24-25, 1899
Decided May 22, 1899
174 U.S. 761

CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

The provisions in the Act of July 24, 1866, entitled "An act to aid in the construction of telegraph lines and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military and other purposes," and Rev.Stat. §§ 5263 to 5268, in which those provisions are preserved, have no application to telephone companies, whose business is that of electrically transmitting articulate speech between different points.

The statement of the case is made in the opinion of the Court.