In Minturn v. Larue (1859) 64 U.S. 435, it was held that a charter authorizing the city of Oakland to establish and regulate ferries, or to authorize the construction of the same, gave no power to the city to grant an exclusive privilege. The Supreme Court of the United States but announced a well established rule when it said, "It is a well settled rule of construction of grants by the Legislature to corporations, whether public or private, that only such powers and rights can be exercised under them as are clearly comprehended within the words of the Act, or derived therefrom by necessary implication, regard being had to the objects of the grant. Any ambiguity or doubt arising out of the terms used by the Legislature must be resolved in favor of the public. This principle has been so often applied in the construction of corporate powers, that we need not stop to refer to the authorities." The Supreme Court also said: "Any ambiguity or doubt arising out of the terms used by the Legislature must be resolved in favor of the public.' It must be by express grant or fair and reasonable intendment that a municipal corporation can get authority over the rights or property of the citizen else `the trades and business of the people would be at the mercy and be dependent upon the caprice of those who might exercise municipal power instead of being regulated by the general law of the land."