Memphis Street Railway Co. v. State

110 Tenn. 598
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 110 Tenn. 598 (Memphis Street Railway Co. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Memphis Street Railway Co. v. State, 110 Tenn. 598 (Tenn. 1903).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Wilkes,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The street railway company is convicted of violating the provisions of chapter 43 of the Acts of 1903 of the [603]*603State of Tennessee, and sentenced to pay a fine of $200, and bas appealed to this court and assigned errors.

In the court below a motion to quash the indictment was made upon several grounds. This motion to quash was overruled, and the cause was heard upon its merits, before the trial judge; a jury being waived by consent of parties.

It appears from the record that the defendant company was operating a street railway in the city of Memphis, county of Shelby, State of Tennessee, and was the only company operating a street railroad in that city; that the city had a population of more than 150,000; that it wholly failed and refused to provide separate accommodations for white and colored passengers, as required under chapter 52, p. 135, of the Acts of 1891, as amended by chapter 43 of the Acts of 1903.

The questions raised by the motion to quash are the same as those presented on the trial of the case on the merits, and they need not be separately considered.

Several assignments of error are made, and they may be briefly stated as follows: (1) That the Act of 1903 fails to comply with that part of section 17, article 2, of the constitution of the State of Tennessee, which provides that “no bill shall become a law which embraces more than one subject, that subject to be expressed in the title.” (2) That it violates the remaining portion of the same section, which provides, that “all acts which repeal, revive or amend former laws shall recite in their caption or otherwise the title or' substance of the law [604]*604repealed, revived or amended.” (3) That the amendment made is not germane to the subject of the original act, nor is it embraced within its title. (4) That it is class legislation, making distinctions unnatural, unreasonable, and arbitrary, and it is not, therefore, the law of the land, but is partial, and applies only to Shelby cpunty, and in its results only to the defendant road. (5) That it is repugnant to the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States, which guarantees the equal protection of the laws. .

The act of 1903, now attacked, as well as the act of 1891, which it undertakes to amend, are as follows:

“Senate Bill No. 37.' Chapter —, Acts of 1903.
“An act to be entitled ‘An act to amend chapter 52 of Acts of 1891, being sections 3074, 3075, and 3076 Shannon’s Code of Tennessee, so as to include street railways and street railroads.’
“Section 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Tennessee, that chapter 52 of the Acts of 1891, being sections 3074, 3075, and 3076 of Shannon’s Code of Tennessee, be and the same is hereby amended so as to include all street railroads and street railways in any county in the State of Tennessee having one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, or over, as shown by the federal census of 1900, or any subsequent federal census.
“Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, that this act take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it.”

[605]*605Tbe title of this Act of 1891 is:

“CHAPTER 52.
■“An act to promote the comfort of passengers on railroad trains by requiring separate accommodations for the white and colored races.
“Section 1. Be it enacted by .the general assembly of the State of Tennessee, that all railroads carrying passengers in the State (other than street railroads) shall provide equal, but separate accommodations for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger cars for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger cars by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations: Provided, that any person may be permitted to take a nurse in the car or compartment set .aside for such persons: Provided, that this act shall not .apply to mixed and freight trains which only carry one passenger or combination passenger and baggage car: Provided always, that in such cases the one passenger ■car so carried shall be partitioned into apartments, one apartment for the whites and one for the colored.
“Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, that the conductors of ■such passenger trains shall have power and are hereby required to assign to the car or compartment of the car (when it is divided by a partition) used for the race to which such passengers belong, and should any passenger refuse to occupy the car to which he or she is assigned by such conductor, said conductor shall have power to refuse to carry such passenger on his train, and for such refusal neither he nor the railroad company [606]*606shall be liable for any damages in any court of this-State.
“Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, that all railroad companies that shall fail, refuse or neglect to comply with the requirements of section 1 of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction in a court-of competent jurisdiction, be fined not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars, and any conductor that shall fail, neglect, or refuse to carry out the-provisions of this act shall, upon conviction, be fined not. less than twenty-five nor more than fifty dollars for each, offense.
“Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, that this act taho effect ninety days from and after its passage, the public-welfare requiring it.
“Passed March 11, 1891.
“Thomas R. Myers,
“Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“W. 0. Dismukes,
“Speaker of the Senate.
“Approved March 27, 1891.
“John P. Buchanan, Governor.”
It will be seen that the law sought to be amended by the Act of 1903 is referred to in the caption or title 'of the latter act as “chapter 52 of the Acts of 1891, being-sections 3074, 3075, 3076, Shannon’s Code of Tennessee,”' and the purpose of the act is stated to be “to include-street railways and street railroads;” that is to extend [607]*607the provisions of chapter 52, p. 135, Acts, 1891, “so as to include street railways and street railroads.”

On behalf of the State it is argued that our statute (Code, sec. 3799; Shannon’s Compilation, sec. 5584), provides that the acts of the legislature may be proved by a copy purporting to have been printed by order of the legislature.

The act sought to he amended in this case purports to have been printed under the authority and by order of the legislature as chapter 52, p. 135, of the Acts of 1891.

It has been the uniform custom to refer to acts by the chapter and volume as they are published, except that the laws contained in the General Statutes of 1858 are referred to as the “Code of Tennessee,” or the “Code,” specifying the section.

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Bluebook (online)
110 Tenn. 598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/memphis-street-railway-co-v-state-tenn-1903.