Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/747

NOTES 71 r many states, a lien upon a railroad can be created only in a certain way, an order of the Railroad Commission being a part of the process. Sup- pose the President has approved the issue of a railroad bond, how does this make it a lien on the railroad, contrary to the law of the state where the railroad is situated? Assume, if you please, that Congress can create liens upon railroads — no great concession since federal courts con- stantly do so in creating receiver's certificates — the present statute has done nothing of the kind. The bond is valid, let us say, as a promise to pay, but is it secured by a lien? Other delightful features of current state statutes, such as those de- claring railroad certificates, notes, etc., not issued by the authority of the State Railroad Commission null and void, and punishing by fine or imprisonment those who issue them, need not be dwelt upon. In a statement of Mr. S. T. Bledsoe, General Counsel of the Atchison, To- peka and Santa Fe Railway Company, read before the Senate Com- mittee on Interstate Commerce, January 20, 19 19, will be found col- lected an extraordinary array of highly conflicting state laws about Railroad Bonds, limiting the power to borrow money as to amount, the rate of interest, the price of bonds, and the purpose for which the money may be used. In Texas, where the tribunes of the people have been very watchful, as a practical matter bonds cannot be issued until the railroad is built, but even this provision has not been completely successful in protecting the state against additional lines of railroad, a few having been financed on property in other states. Unless Congress is prepared to regulate the issue of railroad securities in a very much more thoroughgoing way than by the statute under consideration, they would better let it alone. Even the cleverest draftsman cannot frame a statute which will deal with this subject in an adequate way without the aid of lawyers expert from long experience in passing upon railroad secu- rities. What a pity that the admirable qualities which enable a man to get an ofl[ice are sometimes not the same as those which qualify him to admin- ister it to the greatest public benefit ! Until they are the same, there are cases where a legislator can consult an expert to advantage. This is one. Blewett Lee. Judgment on the Evidence Notwithstanding the Verdict. — If at the trial the defendant makes a motion for a compulsory nonsuit, or if either party moves for a directed verdict in his favor, and on the evi- dence or lack of evidence, the court should have granted the motion but did not, and a verdict is rendered against the party making the motion, the verdict should not and would not be allowed to stand. In England at common law on motion made to the court in banc, a new trial would be ordered. Until 1854 the decision of the court in banc was final; but by the Common Law Procedure Act ^ of that year an appeal was per- rnitted, and the appellate court could order a new trial. In this country likewise a new trial may be ordered by the trial court (usually the single judge who presides at the trial), or by the appellate court.^ It would M 35- A motion for a new trial is now made in the Court of Appeal. R. S. C, Order 39, Rule i. ' See 31 Harv. L. Rev. 682.