action of the commission, by the Commonwealth or by any person interested, irrespective of the amount involved. All appeals from the commission shall be to the Supreme Court of Appeals only; and in all appeals to which the Commonwealth is a party, it shall be represented by the Attorney-General or his legally appointed representative. No court of this Commonwealth (except the Supreme Court of Appeals, by way of appeals as herein authorized), shall have jurisdiction to review, reverse, correct or annul any action of the commission, within the scope of its authority, or to suspend or delay the execution or operation thereof, or to enjoin, restrain or interfere with the commission in the performance of its official duties: provided, however, that the writs of mandamus and prohibition shall lie from the Supreme Court of Appeals to the commission in all cases where such writs, respectively, would lie to any inferior tribunal or officer.

(e) Upon the granting of an appeal, a writ of supersedeas may be awarded by the appellate court, suspending the operation of the action appealed from until the final disposition of the appeal; but, prior to the final reversal thereof by the appellate court, no action of the commission prescribing or affecting the rates, charges or classifications of traffic of any transportation or transmission company shall be delayed, or suspended, in its operation, by reason of any appeal by such corporation, or by reason of any proceedings resulting from such appeal, until a suspending bond shall first have been executed and filed with, and approved by, the commission (or approved on review by the Supreme Court of Appeals), payable to the Commonwealth, and sufficient in amount and security to insure the prompt refunding, by the appealing corporation to the parties entitled thereto, of all charges which such company may collect or receive, pending the appeal, in excess of those fixed, or authorized, by the final decision of the court on appeal. The commission, upon the execution of such bond, shall forthwith require the appealing company, under penalty of the immediate enforcement (pending the appeal and notwithstanding any supersedeas), of the order or requirement appealed from, to keep such accounts, and to make to the commission, from time to time, such reports, verified by oath, as may, in the judgment of the commission, suffice to show the amounts being charged or received by the company, pending the appeal, in excess of the charge allowed by the action of the commission appealed from, together with the names and addresses of the persons to whom such overcharges will be refundable in case the charges made by the company pending the appeal, be not sustained on such appeal; and the commission shall also, from time to time, require such company, under like penalty, to give additional security on,

or to increase, the said suspending bond, whenever, in the opinion of the commission, the same may be necessary to insure the prompt refunding of the overcharges aforesaid. Upon the final decision of such appeal, all amounts which the appealing company may have collected, pending the appeal, in excess of that authorized by such final decision, shall be promptly refunded by the company to the parties entitled thereto, in such manner, and through such methods of distribution, as may be prescribed by the commission, or by law. All such appeals affecting rates, charges or classifications of traffic, shall have precedence upon the docket of the appellate court, and shall be heard and disposed of promptly by the court, irrespective of its place of session, next after the habeas corpus, and Commonwealth's, cases already on the docket of the

court.

(f) In no case of appeal from the commission shall any new or additional evidence be introduced in the appellate court; but the chairman of the commission, under the seal of the commission, shall certify to the appellate court all the facts upon which the action appealed from was based and which may be essential for the proper decision of the appeal, together with such of the evidence introduced before, or considered by, the commission as may be selected, specified and required to be certified, by any party in interest, as well as such other evidence, so introduced or considered, as the commission may deem proper to certify. The commission shall, whenever an appeal is taken therefrom, file with the record of the case, and as a part thereof, a written statement of the reasons upon which the action appealed from was based, and such statement shall be read and considered by the appellate court, upon disposing of the appeal. The appellate court shall have jurisdiction, on such appeal, to consider and determine the reasonableness and justness of the action of the commission appealed from, as well as any other matter arising under such appeal: provided, however, that the action of the commission appealed from shall be regarded as prima facie just, reasonable and correct; but the court may, when it deems necessary, in the interest of justice, remand to the commission any case pending on appeal, and require the same to be further investigated by the commission, and reported upon to the court (together with a certificate of such additional evidence as may be tendered before the commission by any party in interest), before the appeal is finally decided.

(g) Whenever the court, upon appeal, shall reverse an order of the commission affecting the rates, charges or the classification of traffic of any transportation or transmission company, it shall, at the same time, substitute therefor such order as, in its opinion, the commission should

have made at the time of entering the order appealed from; otherwise, the reversal order shall not be valid. Such substituted order shall have the same force and effect (and none other) as if it had been entered by the commission at the time the original order appealed from was entered. The right of the commission to prescribe and enforce rates, charges, classifications, rules and regulations, affecting any or all actions of the commission theretofore entered by it and appealed from, but based upon circumstances or conditions different from those existing at the time the order appealed from was made, shall not be suspended or impaired by reason of the pendency of such appeal; but no order of the commission, prescribing or altering such rates, charges, classifications, rules or regulations, shall be retroactive.

(h) The right of any person to institute and prosecute in the ordinary courts of justice, any action, suit or motion against any transportation or transmission company, for any claim or cause of action against such company, shall not be extinguished or impaired, by reason of any fine or other penalty which the commission may impose, or be authorized to impose, upon such company because of its breach of any public duty, or because of its failure to comply with any order or requirement of the commission; but, in no such proceeding by any person against such corporation, nor in any collateral proceeding, shall the reasonableness, justness or validity of any rate, charge, classification of traffic, rule, regulation or requirement, theretofore prescribed by the commission, within the scope of its authority, and then in force, be questioned: provided, however, that no case based upon or involving any order of the commission shall be heard, or disposed of, against the objection of either party, so long as such order is suspended in its operation by an order of the Supreme Court of Appeals as authorized by this Constitution or by any law passed in pursuance thereof.

(i) The commission shall make annual reports to the Governor of its proceedings, in which reports it shall recommend, from time to time, such new or additional legislation in reference to its powers or duties, or to the creation, supervision, regulation or control of corporations, or to the subject of taxation, as it may deem wise or expedient, or as may be required by law.

(k) Upon the organization of the State Corporation Commission, the C Board of Public Works and the office of Railroad Commissioner, shall cease to exist; and all books, papers and documents pertaining thereto, shall be transferred to, and become a part of the records of, the office of the State Corporation Commission.

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dition to the modes of amendment provided for in Article Fifteen of this Constitution, the General Assembly, upon the recommendation of the State Corporation Commission, may, by law, from time to time, amend sub-sections a to i, inclusive, of this section, or any of them, or any such amendment thereof: provided, that no amendment made under authority of this sub-section shall contravene the provisions of any part of this Constitution other than the sub-sections last above referred to or any such amendment thereof.

Sec. 157. Provision shall be made by general laws for the payment of a fee to the Commonwealth by every domestic corporation, upon the granting, amendment or extension of its charter, and by every foreign corporation upon obtaining a license to do business in this State as specified in this section; and also for the payment, by every domestic corporation, and foreign corporation doing business in this State, of an annual registration fee of not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars, which shall be irrespective of any specific license, or other, tax imposed by law upon such company for the privilege of carrying on its business in this State, or upon its franchise or property; and for the making, by every such corporation (at the time of paying such annual registration fee), of such report to the State Corporation Commission, of the status, business or condition of such corporation, as the General Assembly may prescribe. No foreign corporation shall have authority to do business in this State, until it shall have first obtained from the commission a license to do business in this State, upon such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by law. The failure by any corporation for two successive years to pay its annual registration fee, or to make its said annual reports, shall, when such failure shall have continued for ninety days after the expiration of such two years, operate as a revocation and annulment of the charter of such corporation if it be a domestic company, or, of its license to do business in this State if it be a foreign company; and the General Assembly shall provide additional and suitable penalties for the failure of any corporation to comply promptly with the requirements of this section, or of any laws passed in pursuance thereof. The commission shall compel all corporations to comply promptly with such requirements, by enforcing, in the manner hereinbefore authorized, such fines and penalties against the delinquent company as may be provided for, or authorized by, this article; but the General Assembly may relieve from the payment of the said registration fee any purely charitable institution or institutions.

Sec. 158. Every corporation heretofore chartered in this State, which shall hereafter accept, or effect, any amendment or extension of its

charter, shall be conclusively presumed to have thereby surrendered every exemption from taxation, and every non-repealable feature of its charter and of the amendments thereof, and also all exclusive rights or privileges theretofore granted to it by the General Assembly and not enjoyed by other corporations of a similar general character; and to have thereby agreed to thereafter hold its charter and franchises, and all amendments thereof, under the provisions and subject to all the requirements, terms and conditions of this Constitution and of any laws passed in pursuance thereof, so far as the same may be applicable to such corporation.

Sec. 159. The exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from taking the property and franchises of corporations and subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individuals; and the exercise of the police power of the State shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals or the general wellbeing of the State.

Sec. 160. No transportation or transmission company shall charge or receive any greater compensation, in the aggregate, for transporting the same class of passengers or property, or for transmitting the same class of messages, over a shorter than over a longer distance, along the same line and in the same direction-the shorter being included in the longer distance; but this section shall not be construed as authorizing any such company to charge or receive as great compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance. The State Corporation Commission may, from time to time, authorize any such company to disregard the foregoing provisions of this section, by charging such rates as the commission may prescribe as just and equitable between such company and the public, to or from any junctional or competitive points or localities, or where the competition of points located without this State may make necessary the prescribing of special rates for the protection of the commerce of this State; but this section shall not apply to mileage tickets, or to any special excursion, or commutation, rates, or to special rates for services rendered to the government of this State, or of the United States, or in the interest of some public object, when such tickets or rates shall have been prescribed or authorized by the commission.

Sec. 161. No transportation or transmission company doing business in this State shall grant to any member of the General Assembly, or to any state, county, district or municipal officer, except to members and officers of the State Corporation Commission for their personal use while in office, any frank, free pass, free transportation, or any rebate