S.C. Code § 58-7-50
Except as prohibited in section 7, article 9 of the Constitution of 1895, any gas company organized under the laws of this State may lease its property and franchises to any other gas company, upon such terms as may be agreed upon by a majority of the stockholders at a special meeting held after thirty days' advertisement thereof.
S.C. Code § 58-7-50
Section 7, Article 9 of the Constitution of 1895, referred to in this Code section, no longer appears in the Constitution following the revision and rewriting of that article by amendment ratified by 1971 Act No. 64 (1971 (57) 47). Prior to the amendment that section read as follows:
"No railroad, or other transportation company, and no telegraph or other transmitting corporation, or the lessees, purchasers or managers of any such corporation, shall consolidate the stock, property or franchises of such corporation with, or lease or purchase the works or franchises of, or in any way control, any other railroad or other transportation, telegraph or other transmitting company owning or having under its control a parallel or competing line; and the question whether railroads or other transportation, telegraph or other transmitting companies are parallel or competing lines shall, when demanded by the party complainant, be decided by a jury as in other civil causes."