ART. 23] RAILROAD COMPANIES. 667

tolls for passage of trains and tonnage not exceeding the rate per ton
per mile, or proportionate part of a mile so used, as is charged for
through freight per ton per mile; provided, however that the right of
any road to use the track of any connecting road under this section
shall not be extended to a greater distance than five miles.

This section is not applicable to a railroad chartered prior to its adoption,
because such railroad's charter being a contract, could not be Impaired or
affected by subsequent legislation to which the company did not assent. The
fact that under the defendant's charter, other roads have the right to con-
nect with it, does not give rise to the application of this section. This sec-
tion held not to have been accepted by the defendant railroad company.
Pennsylvania R. R. Co. v. B. & O. R. R. Co., 60 Md. 266.

1904, art. 23, sec .272. 1888, art. 23, sec. 184. 1874, ch. 446, sec. 2.

291. If any railroad company in this State shall fail or refuse to
comply with the provisions of the preceding section, the party aggrieved
shall have the right to recover, upon suit in any court of this State that
has jurisdiction, a sum not less than five hundred dollars or more than
one thousand dollars for each day of such refusal or neglect.
See notes to sec. 290.

Ibid. sec. 273. 1888, art. 23, sec. 185. 1864, ch. 371. 1876, ch. 221.

292. If any person is or shall be aggrieved by any company incorpo-
rated by the laws of this State with authority to transport or carry
persons or property for hire, by reason of anything done or omitted to
be done by the said company, in violation or contravention of its duty
in regard to the transportation or carriage of property or persons as
aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for such person to apply by
petition in a summary way to the circuit court for the county or supe-
rior court of the city of Baltimore, where said company shall have an
office for the transaction of business, for relief against the said alleged
grievance; and thereupon the said court shall appoint a short day
for hearing the matter of the said petition, of which said company
shall have notice; and on hearing the parties, or in case the said com-
pany shall fail to appear and show cause against the said application,
on examination of the said petition and the evidence which shall or
may be produced by the petition in support thereof, the said court
shall pass such order for relieving the said petitioner or otherwise as
to justice shall appertain; and the said court shall have full power to
enforce obedience to the said order by writ of injunction or attach-
ment, or other process which would be applicable in the enforcement
of the said order in the event that the same had been passed by the
said court in the exercise of its general equity jurisdiction; and the
said court shall have power to provide for the examination of witnesses
by an examiner or under a commission or by deposition, and for taking
or collecting other necessary evidence to be used at the hearing as afore-
said, and for the trial of issues involving any controverted matter of
fact by a jury under the direction of the said court, if the said court
shall deem such trial to be proper; and either party may appeal from