Atlantic Coast Line Railway Co. v. Commonwealth

46 S.E. 911, 102 Va. 599, 1904 Va. LEXIS 107
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedMarch 24, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 46 S.E. 911 (Atlantic Coast Line Railway Co. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atlantic Coast Line Railway Co. v. Commonwealth, 46 S.E. 911, 102 Va. 599, 1904 Va. LEXIS 107 (Va. 1904).

Opinion

Buchanan, J.

(after stating the case as above), delivered the opinion of the court.

The errors assigned upon this appeal are as follows:

First. That the commission did not sustain the objections made by each of the appellants at the hearing; that each of said rules, regulations and requirements applies to and attempts to regulate or control interstate commerce, and, in so far as it does so, is in excess of the powers of the commission.

Second. That the commission did not sustain the objection made by each of the appellants; that the said rules, regulations or requirements apply to any attempt to regulate or control foreign commerce, and, in so far as they do, are in excess of the powers of the commission.

Third. That the said commission did not sustain the objections made by each of the appellants to each of the rules numbered, respectively, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12r 13, 14, 16 and 16; that said rules attempt to give to the patrons of each of the transportation companies the use of its property, without compensation, for the time indicated in said rules, respectively.

Ho objection is made here to the reasonableness or justness of the rules, but their validity is attacked upon the ground that each and all of them, so far as they apply to interstate and foreign commerce, are in violation of the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States, and the acts of Congress passed pursuant thereto, and that certain of the rules make requirements which will deprive the appellants of the use of their property, without due process of law, and are, therefore, in violation of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

[614]*614The questions raised on this appeal, which have been discussed at length, and very ably, both in writing and in oral argument, are of great importance. They involve the right of the State, under its reserved power, whether that power be called police, governmental or legislative, to regulate the relative rights and duties of persons and corporations within its jurisdiction, so as to provide for the public good and the public convenience, by laws which are not inconsistent with' the Constitution of the State, and which do not, by their operation, directly intrench upon the authority of the United States, or violate some right protected by the Federal Constitution. To draw the line between the two fields of jurisdiction, and to define and declare when a State regulation is an unconstitutional encroachment upon Federal power, is often a question very difficult to solve, even in a concrete case, but that difficulty is greatly increased and rendered well-nigh impossible when a court is called upon to pass upon a body of rules and regulations, like those now under consideration, and to declare whether or not they, or any of them, in their operation, will directly intrench upon the authority of the United States, or violate some right protected by the Federal Constitution.

The validity of the rules and regulations in question, so far as they apply to intrastate commerce, is not denied, except so far as they may, in their operation, deprive the appellants of the use of their property, without compensation, but it is insisted that they are wholly invalid, so far as they apply to interstate commerce and foreign commerce, upon the ground that that subject is wholly within the jurisdiction of the Federal government.

That this contention is not true, to the extent claimed, is well settled by numerous decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

In the case of Lake Shore, &c. R. R. Co. v. Ohio. &c., 173 [615]*615U. S. 285, 297, 19 Sup. Ct. 465, 470, 43 L. Ed. 702, Mr. Justice Harlan, speaking for the court, said that the cases of that court recognize “the fundamental principle that outside of the field directly occupied by the general government, under the powers granted to it by the Constitution, all questions arising within a State that relate to its internal order, or that involve the public convenience or the general good, are primarily for the determination of the State, and that its legislative enactments, relating to these subjects, and which are not inconsistent with the State Constitution, are to be respected and enforced in the courts of the Union, if they do not, by their operation, directly intrench upon the authority of the United States, or violate some right protected by the National Constitution. The power here referred to is, to use the words of Chief Justice Shaw, the power to make, ordain and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable laws, statutes and ordinances, either with penalties or without, not repugnant to the Constitution, as they shall judge to be for the good and welfare of the Commonwealth and of the subjects of the same.” Commonwealth v. Alger, 7 Cush. 53, 85.

“Mr. Cooley well said: ‘It cannot be doubted that there is ample power in the legislative department of the State to adopt all necessary legislation for the purpose of enforcing the obligations of railway companies, as carriers of persons and goods, to accommodate the public impartially, and to make any reasonable provision for carrying with safety and expedition.’ Cooley’s Const. Law (6th Ed.), p. 715.”
“It may be that such legislation is not within the ‘police ppwer’ of a State, as those words have been sometimes, although inaccurately, used. But, in our opinion, the power, whether called police, governmental or legislative, exists in each State, by appropriate enactments, not forbidden by its own Constitution, or by the Constitution of the United States, to regulate [616]*616the relative rights and duties of all persons and corporations within its jurisdiction, and, therefore, to provide for the public convenience and the public good. This power in the State is entirely distinct from any power granted to th'e general government, although when exercised it may sometimes reach the subjects over which national legislation can be constitutionally extended.”

In the case of Cleveland, &c. Ry. Co. v. Illinois, 177 U. S. 514, 516, 20 Sup. Ct. 122, 44 L. Ed. 868, it- was said that “few classes of cases have become more common of recent years than those wherein the police power of the State over the vehicles of interstate commerce have been drawn in question. That such power exists, and will be enforced, notwithstanding the constitutional authority of Congress to regulate such commerce, is evident from the large number of eases in which we have sustained the validity of local laws, designed to secure the safety and comfort of passengers, employees, persons crossing railway tracks, and adjacent property owners, as well as other regulations intended for the public good.

“We have recently applied this doctrine to State laws, requiring locomotive engineers to be examined and licensed by the State authority (Smith v. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465, 31 L. Ed. 508, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 564), requiring such' engineers to be examined, from time to time, with respect to their ability to distinguish colors ([Nashville, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Alabama, 128 U. S. 96, 32 L. Ed. 352, 2 Inters. Com. Rep. 238, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep.

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Bluebook (online)
46 S.E. 911, 102 Va. 599, 1904 Va. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atlantic-coast-line-railway-co-v-commonwealth-va-1904.