St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. State

136 S.W. 938, 99 Ark. 1, 1911 Ark. LEXIS 198
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 10, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 136 S.W. 938 (St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. State, 136 S.W. 938, 99 Ark. 1, 1911 Ark. LEXIS 198 (Ark. 1911).

Opinion

Kirby, J.,

(.after stating the facts). The power of the Railroad Commission to make the order violated, and for a violation of which appellant was indicted, is challenged because the Legislature could not rightfully authorize the Commission to make it, and because the making of such order was an unreasonable and arbitrary exercise of it, if it had such power.

Amendment No. 4 to the Constitution authorizes the creation of the Railroad Commission, and is> not a limitation of the authority that may be vested in it for effecting all the purposes for which it was designed and established; and if it could be regarded otherwise, the whole unrestricted power of the people necessary to the proper regulation of railroads may well be exercised by it under laws to correct abuses and prevent unjust discriminations and excessive charges by railroads, as authorized thereunder.

A State’s Constitution is not an enabling act nor a grant of enumerated powers, and the Legislature may rightfully exercise the power of the people subject to the limitations and restrictions fixed by the Constitution of the United States and the State. Straub v. Gordon, 27 Ark. 629; Vance v. Austell, 45 Ark. 400; Carson v. St. Francis Levee District, 59 Ark. 513; State v. Martin, 60 Ark. 343; Cox v. State, 72 Ark. 97.

A statute is presumed to be constitutional, and all doubts must be resolved in favor of its constitutionality; and in determining whether it is constitutional the court should look to see, not whether power has been expressly given to make it, but only to ascertain whether in express terms or by necessary implication it is forbidden. Patterson v. Temple, 27 Ark. 202; Duke v. State, 56 Ark. 485; Leep v. Railway Co., 58 Ark. 407; State v. Martin, 60 Ark. 343. It is no longer questioned that a State Legislature may by statute require railroads to perform certain duties to the public and furnish proper and adequate facilities for the transportation of freight and passengers intrastate, and that it may clothe commission's and administrative bodies with such power.

In Missouri Pac. Ry. Co. v. Kansas, 216 U. S. 275, the court said: “The court in Atlantic Coast Line Co. v. N. Car. Corporation Commission, 206 U. S. 7, reiterating the doctrine propounded in preceding cases, said (p. 19): ‘The elementary proposition that railroads, from the public nature of the business by them carried on and the interest which the public have in their operation, are subject, as to their State business, to State regulation which may be necessary, either directly by legislative authority, or by administrative bodies endowed with power to that end, is not and could not be successfully questioned, in view of the long line of authorities sustaining that doctrine.’

“Also in the same case, restating a principle previously often announced, it was held (p. 20) ‘that railway property was susceptible of private ownership, and that rights in and to such property rested in constitutional guaranties by which all private property was protected. Pointing out that there was no incompatibility between the two, the truism was reannounced that the right of private ownership was not abridged by subjecting-the enjoyment of that right to the power of reasonable regulations, and that such governmental power could not in truth be said to be curtailed because it could not be exerted arbitrarily and unreasonably without impinging on the enduring guaranties by which the Constitution protected property rights.’ ”

The Legislature had the right to require the construction of this spur track, and, having it, could delegate the power to the Railroad Commission, as it has done by said act of 1907. See Acts 1907, c. 338. If it had made the requirement directly by statute, instead of conferring the power upon the Railroad Commission to make it, its action would have been subject to judicial review only as being so arbitrary and unreasonable as to cause-it to be void for want of power, as this court held in Louisiana & Ark. Railway Co. v. State, 85 Ark. 12, and St. Louis S. W. Ry. Co. v. State, 97 Ark. 473.

The order of the Railroad Commission made under the authority delegated to it is subject to like review for the same cause, and, being- the tribunal provided by law for passing upon the question under the prescribed procedure as to the petition, notice, hearing, inspection of the locality affected, and granting of the relief prayed for, by requiring the construction of 'the spur track in question, its order, duly, made, is-presumed to be reasonable and just and a proper exercise of the power granted to it, unless and until the contrary is made to appear to the satisfaction of the court upon its subjection to such judicial review.

Appellant contends that it was deprived of a constitutional right by the court refusing to submit the matter to trial by jury upon its demand. No provision is made in the laws creating the Railroad Commission and prescribing its powers and duties nor in the act of 1907 under which the order for the violation of which appellant was indicted was made by it, expressly or by implication, for the trial or review of its acts and orders 'by a jury as questions of fact.

In Kirkland v. State, 72 Ark. 177, the court said: “It is true that the Constitution provides that “the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate” (art. 2, § 7); and that no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law” (art. 2, § 8). But it is well settled that it is only to cases at common law in which the issues of fact were triable by jury, and perhaps such as are of similar analogous nature, that the guaranty relied upon by the appellant extends. A jury trial is not necessary to constitute due process of law in every case. Govan v. Jackson, 32 Ark. 553; Williams v. Citizens, 40 Ark. 290.” "The question as to whether or not said order was unreasonable and arbitrary was one of law for the court, it never having been intended that a jury should pass upon as a question of fact whether the exercise of power by the Legislature or by the Railroad Commission under legislative enactment was unreasonable and arbitrary. Louisiana & A. Ry. Co. v. State, 85 Ark. 12; St. Louis S. W. Ry. Co. v. State, supra.

The court committed no error in refusing its demand for a jury to try the question under its said plea, and it waived its' right to a jury and consented to a trial by the court upon the question of its violation of the order made by the Railroad Commission.

The Railroad Commission, in the proper exercise of the powers conferred upon it by the act of 1907, had primarily the right to determine whether the public necessity and convenience required the establishment of the spur track for the loading and unloading of freight at Comal postoffice, and, having determined by an order duly made in accordance with said act, its determination will not be disturbed unless it is clearly shown that such requirement is unreasonable and arbitrary. In the determination of the reasonableness of the requirement the chief question to be considered is, whether such improvement as directed to be made is necessary to meet the needs and promote the convenience of the public. The fact that its establishment and maintenance might greatly exceed the revenues that would probably be derived from the business done at such place because of the improvement is a matter to be considered also, but does not necessarily control.

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Bluebook (online)
136 S.W. 938, 99 Ark. 1, 1911 Ark. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-iron-mountain-southern-railway-co-v-state-ark-1911.