The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952
History
The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952
Constitutional law -- United States; Constitutions -- United States
Section 1 of the act of 1887 contains the proviso "that the provisions
of this act shall not apply to 'transportation' wholly within the
State." Section 3 of the act prohibits "any common carrier subject to
the provisions" of the act from giving "any unreasonable preference or
advantage" to any person, firm, or locality. In the Shreveport
Case,[383] decided in 1914, the Commission, reading Sec. 3 independently
of Sec. 1, had ordered several Texas lines to increase certain of their
rates between points in Texas till they should approximate rates already
approved by the Commission to adjoining points in Louisiana. The latter
rates, being interstate, were admittedly subject to the Commission. The
local rates were as clearly within the normal jurisdiction of the State,
and had in fact been set by the Texas Railway Commission. The Court
found that the Interstate Commerce Commission had not exceeded its
statutory powers. The constitutional objection to the Commission's
action was stated thus: "That Congress is impotent to control the
intrastate charges of an interstate carrier even to the extent necessary
to prevent injurious discrimination against interstate traffic." This
objection the Court met, as follows: "Wherever the interstate and
intrastate transactions of carriers are so related that the government
of the one involves the control of the other, it is Congress, and not
the State, that is entitled to prescribe the final and dominant rule,
for otherwise Congress would be denied the exercise of its
constitutional authority and the State, and not the Nation, would be
supreme in the national field."[384] This, the Court continued, "is not
to say that Congress possesses the authority to regulate the internal
commerce of a State as such, but that it does possess the power to
foster and protect interstate commerce, and to take all measures
necessary or appropriate to that end, although intrastate transactions
of interstate carriers may thereby be controlled."[385]
THE ACT OF 1920 AND STATE RAILWAY RATE REGULATION
The power of the Commission under Sec. 3 of the act of 1887, as
interpreted in the Shreveport Case, was greatly enlarged by Sec. 416 of
the act of 1920, which authorizes the Commission to remove "any undue,
unreasonable, or unjust discrimination against interstate or foreign
commerce." Thus, commerce as a whole, instead of specific firms or
localities, is made the beneficiary of the restriction. In the Wisconsin
R.R. Comm. _v._ Chicago, B. & Q.R.R. Co.,[386] the Court held that this
section sustained the Interstate Commerce Commission in annulling
intrastate passenger rates which it found to be unduly low, in
comparison with rates which the Commission had established for
interstate travel, and so tending to thwart, in deference to a merely
local interest, the general purpose of the act to maintain an efficient
transport service for the benefit of the country at large.[387]
REGULATION OF OTHER AGENTS OF CARRIAGE AND COMMUNICATION
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account