St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. United States

169 F. 69, 94 C.C.A. 437, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4553
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 17, 1909
DocketNo. 2,818
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 169 F. 69 (St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. United States, 169 F. 69, 94 C.C.A. 437, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4553 (8th Cir. 1909).

Opinion

VAN DEVANTER, Circuit Judge.

This was an action to recover a penalty for an alleged failure to comply with the provisions of section 1 of the act of June 29, 1906, c. 3594, 34 Stat. 607 (U. S. Comp. [70]*70St. Supp. 1907, p. 918), known as the “28-hour law.” The verdict and judgment were against the defendant, and it prosecutes this writ of error.

The alleged failure to comply with the statute occurred in what was then the Indian Territory, and not in the district wherein the action was brought and tried. Because of this, it is urged that the Circuit Court was without jurisdiction; the argument being that a failure to comply with the statute is a crime, that an action to enforce the penalty, even though civil in form, is in effect a criminal prosecution, and therefore that section 2 of article 3 of the Constitution and the sixth amendment thereto require that the trial of such a case be had in the district wherein the failure occurs. There is at least one sufficient reason why this objection to the jurisdiction must fail. Section 2 of article 3 declares in respect of the place of trial for crimes:

“But when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.”

And the Supreme Court, in passing upon the effect of that section and of the sixth amendment, has repeatedly held that a crime committed against the laws of the United States, out of the limits of a;state, is not local, but may be tried at such place as Congress shall designate by law. United States v. Dawson, 15 How. 467, 487, 14 L. Ed. 775; United States v. Jackalow, 1 Black, 484, 486, 17 L. Ed. 225; Cook v. United States, 138 U. S. 157, 181, 11 Sup. Ct. 268, 34 L. Ed. 906. In section 4 of the 28-hour law Congress has directed that the action to recover a penalty incurred thereunder be brought in the district where the failure occurs, or in that wherein the defendant resides or carries on business. The defendant is a Missouri corporation, and carries on business within the district wherein the action was brought and tried. If, then, it were conceded, which it is not, that such a failure is a crime and that an action to recover the penalty therefor is in effect a criminal prosecution, the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court in this instance would still be beyond question.

The government’s petition, when stripped of details not here ma* terial, charged that the defendant, while carrying upon its railroad certain cattle in transit from Comanche in the Indian Territory to National Stockyards in Illinois, failed to comply with the provisions of section 1 of the act before named, in that it unloaded the cattle into a pen at Seneca, an intermediate station, for rest, water, and feeding when the pen was not properly equipped for these purposes, because, first, it was too small to enable the cattle to obtain required rest; second, there were no water troughs or other facilities in the pen for watering cattle; and, third, there were no hay racks or feed troughs therein into which hay or other feed could be placed for cattle, and that in so failing to comply with the statute the defendant acted both knowingly and willfully. The answer denied each and all of these allegations.

As properly reflecting the position taken by the government in the course of the trial, we extract the following from its brief in this court:

“The issues were confined in this very narrow compass, to wit: Were the cattle unloaded by plaintiff in error into pens properly equipped for irest, feed, and water? No question is presented * ♦ * as to con[71]*71finement of the cattle for a period greater than that allowed by law, and no question is involved as to the manner of the unloading, or as to the quantity or quality of the feed and water furnished; the sole question being as to whether or not the plaintiff in error unloaded the cattle into pens properly equipped for rest, feed, and water as required by statute.”

At the conclusion of all the evidence the defendant requested that a verdict be directed in its favor, and error is assigned upon the denial of that request. It will be assumed, but without so deciding, that the statute is directed not merely against the continuous confinement of cattle in cars beyond the prescribed period of 28 or 36 hours, as the case may be, without rest, water, or food, but also against unloading them for rest, water, and feeding into pens not properly equipped therefor, that the pen into which these cattle were unloaded was not properly equipped in the sense of the statute, and that ordinarily to unload cattle into such a pen for rest, water, and feeding is to fail to comply with the statute; and, with these matters so disposed of, we will consider only whether there was any substantial evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant knowingly and willfully failed to comply with the statute in this instance. We say “knowingly and willfully” because, as was recently said by Judge Adams in speaking for this court, “it appears that section 1 creates a duty to be performed by carriers, and that section 3 imposes a penalty not for the failure to perform the duty, but only when the carrier ‘knowingly and willfully’ fails in that regard.” United States v. Union Pacific R. R. Co. (C. C. A.) 169 Fed. 65. The qualifying words cannot be disregarded. They mean something, and whatever that may be is an essential element of every right to the penalty. “Knowingly” evidently means with a knowledge of the facts which taken together constitute the failure to comply with the statute, as is the case where one carrier receives from another a car loaded with cattle, and, with knowledge of how long they then had been confined in the car without rest, water, or food, prolongs the confinement until the statutory limit is exceeded. “Willfully” means something not expressed by “knowingly,” else both would not be used conjunctively. And presumptively it means something not expressed by “willingly,” else the change from that word would not have been made when- the old statute (Rev. St. §§ 4386—4390 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 2995—2997]) was being re-enacted. Crawford v. Burke, 195 U. S. 176, 190, 25 Sup. Ct. 9, 49 L. Ed. 147; Hopper v. Denver, etc., Co., 84 C. C. A. 21, 24, 155 Fed. 273, 276. But it does not mean with intent to injure the cattle or to inflict loss upon their owner because such intent on the part of a carrier is hardly within the pale of actual experience or reasonable supposition. United States v. Union Pacific R. R. Co., supra. So, giving effect to these considerations, we are persuaded that it means purposely or obstinately and is designed to describe the attitude of a carrier, who, having a free will or choice, either intentionally disregards the statute or is plainly indifferent to its requirements.

The evidence was practically free from contradiction, and established these facts: The pen at Seneca afforded approximately 48 square feet of space for each animal, or about the space embraced in an ordi[72]*72nary stall in a stable. The ground therein was dry and in good condition, and the surrounding fence was sufficient. Cattle unloaded therein could be watered by driving them along a public lane to a creek distant 515 yards from the pen, and they could be fed in the pen by strewing hay about upon the ground.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
169 F. 69, 94 C.C.A. 437, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-s-f-r-co-v-united-states-ca8-1909.