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
Gloucester Ferry Company _v._ Pennsylvania,[619] stated flatly that
"Commerce among the States * * * includes the transportation of
persons,"[620] and hence was not taxable by the States, a proposition
which is still good law.[621] Four years earlier it had been held that
the transmission of telegraph messages from one State to another, being
interstate commerce, was something that the State of origin could not
tax.[622]
State Taxation of the Interstate Commerce Privilege: Foreign
Corporations
DOCTRINAL HISTORY
In the famous case of Paul _v._ Virginia,[623] decided in 1869, it was
held that a corporation chartered by one State could enter other States
only with their assent, which might "be granted upon such terms and
conditions as those States may think proper to impose";[624] but along
with this holding went the statement that "the power conferred upon
Congress to regulate commerce includes as well commerce carried on by
corporations as commerce carried on by individuals."[625] And in the
State Freight Tax Case it is implied that no State can regulate or
restrict the right of a "foreign" corporation--one chartered by another
State--to carry on interstate commerce within its borders,[626] an
implication which soon became explicit. In Leloup _v._ Port of
Mobile,[627] decided in 1888, the Court had before it a license tax on a
telegraph company which was engaged in both domestic and interstate
business. The general nature of the exaction did not suffice to save it.
Said the Court: "The question is squarely presented to us, * * *,
whether a State, as a condition of doing business within its
jurisdiction, may exact a license tax from a telegraph company, a large
part of whose business is the transmission of messages from one State to
another and between the United States and foreign countries, and which
is invested with the powers and privileges conferred by the act of
Congress passed July 24, 1866, and other acts incorporated in Title LXV
of the Revised Statutes? Can a State prohibit such a company from doing
such a business within its jurisdiction, unless it will pay a tax and
procure a license for the privilege? If it can, it can exclude such
companies, and prohibit the transaction of such business altogether. We
are not prepared to say that this can be done."[628]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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