[Syllabus from pages 466-469 intentionally omitted]
The appellees in the first of the above cases were the plaintiffs below, and are citizens of Massachusetts, and stockholders of the Union Pacific Railway Company. They sue on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated. The defendants are the Union Pacific Railway Company; the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad Company, the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company, and the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad Company, corporations of Nebaska under the control of the Union Pacific Railway Company; certain persons, citizens of Nebraska, who hold the offices, respectively, of attorney general, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, state treasurer, and commissioner of public lands and buildings, and constitute the state board of transportation; and James C. Dahlman, Joseph W. Edgerton, and Gilbert L. Laws, citizens of Nebraska, and secretaries of that board. By a supplemental bill in the same suit, certain persons, receivers of the Union Pacific Railway Company, were made defendants.
In the second case, some of the plaintiffs, appellees here, are subjects of Queen Victoria, while the others are citizens of Massachusetts. They are all stockholders of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and have sued in that capacity on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated. The defendants are the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company; the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad Company, a Nebraska corporation, and the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Company a corporation organized under the laws of Minnesota and Nebraska, both under the control of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company; and the above officers constituting the state board of transportation, as well as those holding the positions of secretaries of that board.
In the third case, the appellees Henry L. Higginson and others, citizens of Massachusetts, were the plaintiffs below. They sued on behalf of themselves and all other stock,-holders of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Illinois and Iowa, and whose lines west of the Missouri river are known as the Burlington & Missouri Road. The defendants are the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, the persons composing the Nebraska state board of transportation, and the secretaries of that board.
For the sake of brevity, the Union Pacific Railway Company will be called the 'Union Pacific Company,' the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad Company the 'St. Joseph Company,' the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company the 'Omaha Company,' the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad Company the 'Kansas City Company,' the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad Company the 'Fremont Company,' the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Company the 'St. Paul Company,' and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company the 'Burlington Company.'
Each of these suits was brought July 28, 1893, and involves the constitutionality of an act of the legislature of Nebraska approved by the governor April 12, 1893, and which took effect August 1, 1893. It was an act 'to regulate railroads, to classify freights, to fix reasonable maximum rates to be charged for the transportation of freights upon each of the railroads in the state of Nebraska, and to provide penalties for the violation of this act.' Acts Neb. 1893, c. 24; Comp. St. Neb. 1893, c. 72, art. 12. The act is referred to in the record as 'House Roll 33.'