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upr000153 109

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upr000153-109
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    This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.

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    Digitized materials: physical originals can be viewed in Special Collections and Archives reading room

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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    ? -3- of Las Vegas, the various franchises under which it has operated to date have been limited to the City of Las Vegas. Authority of Public Service Commission; If the Company can be compelled to exteM^TB^^operations^BeyonSr the city limits, such action must come by order of the Nevada Public Service Com­mission. The creation of the Commission, definition of its duties and powers, and provisions for the regulation of public utilities are found in the ’’Public Service Commission Act” ap­pearing in Volume 3, Nevada Compiled Laws, 1929, Section 6100, et seq. There does not appear to be much doubt that the Company is a ’’public utility” within the definition of that term and hence, is subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission (Section 6106). The Commission is granted the power and duty ”to super­vise and regulate the operations and maintenance of public util­ities” (Section 6100). The Commission also has power ”to deter­mine and order required and necessary repairs, reinforcements, construction and connection of property lines, equipment, appli­ances, buildings, tracts and all property used or useful in public utility service” (Section 6117). It appears from the foregoing that the jurisdiction and statutory power of the Commission is sufficient. There remains to be determined, however, the extent to which and the circum­stances under which such authority may be exercised. Discussion of the law; It may be said generally, that a public utility^ by accepting a public franchise, becomes obli­gated to render adequate and efficient service without discrimi­nation to all members of the public within the scope of its opera­tions. After making that general observation, the text appearing in 43 Am. Jur. Sec. 22, page 5$$, continues; ’’Furthermore, the obligation of a public utility to serve the public is limited by the extent of the profession or undertaking by the utility to serve the public. To re­quire a public utility to devote its property to a service which it has never professed to render or to the service of a territory which it has never undertaken to serve is tantamount to taking that property for public use without just compensation. In this respect the duty to furnish service to a particular city or locality rests upon the public utility’s franchise or contractual obligations; and a mere statement in the articles of incorporation of a public service corporation that the company is formed for the purpose of producing and furnishing a commodity, such as