Jan Štemberk – Ivan Jakubec
Return of State Capital to Railroad Companies?: Circumstances Underlying the Preparation and Application of the 'Sequestration Law'
In the second half of the 1870s, serious discussions were raised about changes in railway policy in Cisleithania (the Austrian territories of Austria-Hungary). The existing system of concessions that resulted in a framework for private businesses was beginning to show its limits, as the importance of railway transport, from the national economic point of view, dramatically increased, leading to the intensive search for a new legal model. The end of 1877 saw the adoption of the ‘sequestration law'. The aim of this contribution is to examine the practical effects of the law and its importance for the construction of state railways. While the law in and of itself did not represent an open door to the construction of state railways, it did serve as the declaration of a different approach to them on the part of the state. One could not even make the claim that it meant the return of state capital to the railway business, given that this capital had always been latently present. It did, however, give a mandate for the initiation of negotiations with the railway companies regarding the purchase of their tracks, and on the takeover of the operation by the state apparatus.
Keywords: Austria – Habsburg Monarchy –Czech Lands – Cisleithania – railways – sequestration law – nationalization of railways
design by Bedřich Vémola
