Erie Railroad v. State

143 A.2d 224, 51 N.J. Super. 61, 1958 N.J. Super. LEXIS 437
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJune 30, 1958
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 143 A.2d 224 (Erie Railroad v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Erie Railroad v. State, 143 A.2d 224, 51 N.J. Super. 61, 1958 N.J. Super. LEXIS 437 (N.J. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This is an appeal from a “Decision and Order” of the Board of Public Utility Commissioners dated August 12, 1957, ordering the Erie Railroad Company to “continue the operation of its passenger ferry service between Jersey City, New Jersey and Chambers Street, New York City, Now York on and after August 15, 1957, and that the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad Company continue its use under contract of said passenger ferry service,” pending a final determination by the Board in the proceeding. Leave to appeal from the order, as interlocutory, was granted by the Appellate Division. The making of the order came about as follows.

The railroad company operates a terminal in Jersey City on the west shore of the Hudson River in connection with the transportation of passengers and freight. For reasons based on the economics of the railroad industry not required to be presently detailed most of the railroad’s passenger terminal operations have recently been transferred to the terminal of the D., L. & W. R. R. Co. (Lackawanna) in nearby Hoboken. The Erie’s Northern Branch passengers and those of the Susquehanna which the Erie handles at Jersey City by contract have continued to use the Jersey City station. The plan for transfer of major passenger terminal operations to Hoboken included the abandonment of the Erie’s passenger ferry service from the Jersey City station to Chambers Street, New York City, an operation [64]*64which is said to involve a .monthly loss of $37,500 to the railroad company.

An application was filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission for leave to abandon the ferry service, and after hearings and an affirmative recommendation by an examiner, to which the State of New Jersey and the Board, as parties, filed exceptions, the Commission concluded that the public convenience and necessity permitted the abandonment of the ferry service and a certificate was issued dated June 15, 1957 authorizing its discontinuance on and after August 15, 1957.

On July 30, 1957 the State filed a petition with the Board asking that body to direct the railroad company to continue the operation of the ferry until the Board could decide the issue of public convenience and necessity. The Board issued an order to show cause returnable August 7, 1957. Thereupon the railroad company filed a complaint in the United States District Court requesting that tribunal to restrain the Board and the State from taking any action in the ferry matter. A statutory court was convened which, after hearing, refused to intervene.

On the return of the order to show cause before the Board the railroad company sought a dismissal of the proceedings on the grounds, inter alia, that the State and its agencies were without jurisdiction because the ferry is strictly an interstate operation and that the assumption of jurisdiction by the Board would offend the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The matter was taken under advisement and the decision and order of August 12, 1957, under attack herein, followed.

On August 9, 1957 the State filed a complaint in the United States District Court attacking the validity of the certificate and order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, primarily on the ground that the Commission was without jurisdiction over the ferry matter because the statute, section 1(18) of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, 49 U. S. C., § 1(18) (1952), grants authority to the Commission only over abandonments of lines of railroad or the operation [65]*65thereof, not over the partial discontinuance of service on a line. It was argued that for the Erie to retain its harbor freight business while being permitted to discontinue its passenger ferry service would not constitute an abandonment of a line of railroad over which the Commission’s statutory jurisdiction would be operative. A federal statutory court agreed with the position of the State, and the order of the Commission was set aside on December 10, 1957. Board of Public Utility Commissioners of N. J. v. United States, 158 F. Supp. 104 (D. C. D. N. J. 1957) ; see, also, the companion case by the same name involving the Weehawken ferry, 158 F. Supp. 98 (D. C. D. N. J. 1957). An appeal from these decisions has recently been allowed by the United States Supreme Court and is pending.

The parties to this appeal have fully developed all aspects of the many complex problems frequently presented in determining whether the particular effort of a state or local agency to regulate, tax, or control an interstate ferry in respect to an aspect or interest argued to be primarily local or intrastate in nature or impact, runs afoul of the prohibitions against interference with or undue burdening of interstate commerce contrary to the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. We find it unnecessary to pursue these inquiries in the present case because we deem the particular kind of regulatory control sought here to be exercised over this ferry operation to transcend the territorial jurisdiction of the State and the Board, within the controlling decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court in Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. Board of Public Utility Commissioners, 11 N. J. 43 (1952).

The Board in the case before us orders the railroad company to “continue the operation of its passenger ferry service between” Jersey City and Chambers Street, New York City. This in effect commands the railroad to run its ferries across the state line in the Hudson River into the State of New York, to discharge its passengers there, and to pick up passengers at Chambers Street in New York City and transport them back across the state line to New Jersey.

[66]*66We have no doubt that the decision of the Supreme Court in the Pennsylvania Railroad case cited above precludes the exercise of jurisdiction by the Board directly to command a utility to carry on a service beyond the state line. In that case the court had for review an order of the Board denying an application of the Pennsylvania Railroad company to discontinue certain local commuter trains on the Trenton-Burlington-Philadelphia line of the railroad. These trains started at Trenton and made 15 intervening stops in the State of New Jersey before crossing the Delaware River at the Delair Bridge and they then made a Pennsylvania stop "at Erankford Junction before terminating in Philadelphia. The Delair Bridge was constructed in the period from 1894 to 1896. Previously the line ran only on the New Jersey side of the river to the City of Camden and the passengers were brought into Philadelphia by ferry. After the opening of the Delair Bridge, some of the trains continued to go to Camden, and others, including those involved in the particular case before the court, made the Philadelphia trip via the Delair Bridge. The ferry service from Camden to Philadelphia was discontinued by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission April 1, 1952, shortly before the order of the Public Utility Commission under review in that ease.

The Supreme Court took up the question which concerns us here and said (11 N. J. at page 49):

“The railroad’s first contention is that the order of the Board of Public Utility Commissioners is invalid in that it in effect directs it to operate trains beyond the territorial limits of the State of New Jersey. It is fundamental that the authority of every tribunal is necessarily restricted by the territorial limits of the state in which it is established. Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Certain Amendments to the Adopted & Approved Solid Waste Management Plan
518 A.2d 1105 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1986)
Matter of Camden Cty. Solid Waste Mgt. Dist.
518 A.2d 1105 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1986)
State v. New York Central RR Co.
145 A.2d 54 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 A.2d 224, 51 N.J. Super. 61, 1958 N.J. Super. LEXIS 437, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erie-railroad-v-state-njsuperctappdiv-1958.