710 CORPORATIONS. [ART. 23

1904, art. 23, sec. 366. 1888, art. 23, sec. 254. 1886, ch. 161. 1908, ch. 240,
sec. 366. 1910, ch. 55, sec. 366 (p. 74).

405. Any of the corporations formed under class thirteen, section
28 of this article, as codified by the Code of 1904, shall have the power
which is conferred upon telegraph companies incorporated under this
article by section 359, and may construct and lay any part of its line
or lines underground or any route for which it is authorized to con-
struct such lines in whole or in part, above ground, and such corpora-
tion may acquire by condemnation any property or right whatsoever
necessary for its purposes in its discretion, either in fee simple or the
use thereof in fee simple, or for a less estate, either in the manner set
forth in sections 269 and 160,* or sections 399 adn 404 of this article;
provided, however, that all corporations incorporated, or to be incorpo-
rated by virtue of said section 28, class thirteen, and all corporations
heretofore or hereafter incorporated under the provisions of the corpora-
tion law of 1908, shall obtain the assent and approval of the mayor
and city council of Baltimore city, before using the streets or high-
ways of Baltimore city, either the surface or the ground beneath the
same. The provisions of this proviso, however, not to apply to such corpo-
rations as are now in practical operation and have laid or constructed
their lines, pipes, mains or other structures, or any part thereof in the
city of Baltimore, except as to the uae and occupancy by them of new
and additional streets and highways in the city of Baltimore by their
lines, pipes, mains or other structures.

The supplying of electric power or energy to the public generally on equal
terms is a public use, and a corporation which supplies such power may be
vested with the right of condemnation. A corporation held under its charter
to be a public service one, and authorized under this section to acquire prop-
erty by condemnation. The fact that some of the purposes for which a cor-
poration is chartered are public and some are private, does not prevent it
from exercising the right of condemnation unless the two purposes are so
combined that they can not be separated. A corporation may condemn prop-
erty in fee simple and also an easement upon other land facilitating the use
of the fee simple. A public service corporation which has condemned land
for a public use, can not by an amendment of its charter, divest Itself of such
public use, and hold the land for private purposes—see section 76. The ques-
tion of whether a corporation has the power of condemnation, may be raised
by a bill for Injunction. Webster v. Susquehanna Pole Line Co., 112 Md. 419
(decided prior to the act of 1910, ch. 55 )

A turnpike road partly in Baltimore city owned by a private corporation,
and streets owned by individuals but used by the public as highways, are
"streets or highways of Baltimore city" within the meaning of this section.
The city of Baltimore has the right to enjoin a corporation from using its
streets for the transmission of electric light and power where the corporation
has not received authority so to do. Patapsco Co. v. Baltimore City, 110 Md.
309 (decided prior to the act of 1910, ch. 55). And see Edison, etc., Co. v.
Hooper, 85 Md. 112; Chesapeake, etc., Telephone Co. v. Baltimore City, 89
" Md. 702.

Where a special act of the legislature authorizes a corporation to transact
any business in which electricity is used, and confers upon it in Baltimore
city all the rights and privileges mentioned in this section, the successor of
such corporation is empowered to conduct an electric light business in

*The reference here to section 160 is evidently a clerical error, section 270
being no doubt intended.