Section 1

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c., That no railroad, canal or other corporation of this State, or the lessees, purchasers or managers of any such railroad or canal corporation, shall consolidate the stock, property or franchises of such corporation with, or lease or purchase the works or franchises of, or hold a majority of the stock of, or in any other way control, any other railroad or canal corporation, organized under the laws of this State, owning or having under its control within this State a parallel or competing line; nor shall any officer of such railroad or canal corporation of this State act as an officer of any other railroad or canal corporation of this State, owning or having the control of a parallel or competing line; and the question whether railroads or canals are parallel or competing lines shall, when demanded by the party complainant, be decided by a jury as in other civil issues: Provided, That none of the prohibitions of this act shall apply where one railroad or canal corporation owns a majority of the stock of another railroad or canal corporation, which it held before the adoption of the present Constitution, nor where a railroad corporation has furthered or shall further the construction of a line, parallel and competing with its own, by subscribing to a majority of the stock of a corporation organized for that purpose.