Congress may delegate to municipal authorities legislative functions which are strictly local in character.[1364] It may confer upon them the power to improve or repair streets, to assess adjacent property therefor,[1365] and to regulate public markets.[1366] It may confirm assessments previously made by the District government without authority of law.[1367] But in Stoutenburgh _v._ Hennick,[1368] the Court held that Congress would not, and did not intend to, delegate to the District the power to impose a license tax on commercial agents who offered merchandise for sale by sample, since such a license amounted to a regulation of interstate commerce. COURTS OF THE DISTRICT In its capacity as a local legislature Congress may create courts for the District of Columbia and may confer upon them powers and duties which lie outside the judicial power vested in "constitutional" courts. On appeal from an order of the District Public Utilities Commission, a court for the District of Columbia may be empowered to modify valuations, rates and regulations established by the Commission and to make such orders as in its judgment the Commission should have made. But inasmuch as the issuance of such orders is a legislative as distinguished from a judicial function, the provision for an appeal from them to the Supreme Court was held unconstitutional.[1369] Despite the fact that Congress, acting under this clause, imposed nonjudicial duties upon the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, those tribunals were held to be constitutional courts, established under article III, with the result that the compensation of the judges thereof may not be diminished during their continuance in office.[1370] Since the courts established for the District are courts of the United States, their judgments stand upon the same footing, so far as concerns the obligations created by them, as domestic judgments of the States, wherever rendered and wherever sought to be enforced.[1371] Authority Over Places Purchased "PLACES" This clause has been broadly construed to cover all structures necessary for carrying on the business of the National Government.[1372] It includes post offices,[1373] a hospital and a hotel located in a national park,[1374] and locks and dams for the improvement of navigation.[1375] But it does not cover lands acquired for forests, parks, ranges, wild life sanctuaries or flood control.[1376] Nevertheless the Supreme Court has held that a State may convey, and that Congress may accept, either exclusive or qualified jurisdiction over property acquired within the geographical limits of a State, for purposes other than those enumerated in Clause 17.[1377]