State v. Great Northern Railway Co.

153 N.W. 247, 130 Minn. 57, 1915 Minn. LEXIS 516
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 11, 1915
DocketNos. 19,342—(19)
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 153 N.W. 247 (State v. Great Northern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Great Northern Railway Co., 153 N.W. 247, 130 Minn. 57, 1915 Minn. LEXIS 516 (Mich. 1915).

Opinion

Hallam, J.

For some years past the defendant railroad company has operated a line of railroad between Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Duluth, Minnesota. Up to November 22, 1914, it operated upon that line, daily including Sunday, two trains each way, one a day train and the other a night train. On the day last mentioned the defendant discontinued the operation of its Sunday day trains on this line, leaving all week day trains and the Sunday night trains operated as theretofore. The state Railroad and Warehouse Commission, after hearing, ordered the Sunday day trains restored. Defendant appealed to the district court. That court, after trial, found that the order of the commission restoring the Sunday trains was “unlawful and unreasonable and not justified by public necessity or convenience,” and adjudged that the same be vacated and set aside. The state appeals.

The statute provides that:

“Whenever, in the judgment of the commission * * * any * * * change (by a common carrier) in the mode of operating its road or conducting its business, will promote the security or convenience of the public, the commission, by a written order * * * shall require * * * the making of such * * * change.” G. S. 1913, § 4178.

The statute further provides for an appeal from the order of the commission to the district court. G. S. 1913, § 4191. The appeal [59]*59is “tried * * * according to the rules relating to tbe trial of civil áctions, so far as the same are applicable.” Upon such trial the commission’s “findings of fact” are “prima facie evidence of the matters therein stated,” and the order is “prima facie reasonable, and tbe burden of proof upon all issues raised by tbe appeal” is upon tbe appellant. If the court determines “that tbe order appealed from is lawful and reasonable,” it is affirmed. If it determines “that the order is unlawful or unreasonable” it is “vacated and set aside.” G. S. 1913, § 4192.

1. Tbe statute in terms makes tbe reasonableness of tbe order of tbe commission a question for tbe court to determine on appeal. This is a valid statutory provision. Tbe reasonableness of tbe order is properly a judicial question. Argument of that proposition was foreclosed by tbe decision of tbe Federal Supreme Court more than a quarter of a century ago. In tbe first case decided by that court involving tbe powers of tbe Railroad and Warehouse Commission of this state, it was held that “tbe question of tbe reasonableness of a rate of charge for transportation by a railroad company, involving as it does tbe element of reasonableness both as regards tbe company and as regards tbe public, is eminently a question for judicial investigation, requiring due process of law for its determination.” Chicago M. & St. P. Ry. Co. v. Minnesota, 134 U. S. 418, 458, 10 Sup. Ct. 462, 467, 33 L. ed. 970.

2. Tbe principles on which tbe court acts in determining whether or not an order of tbe commission is reasonable, have been tbe subject of much controversy, but the law on that subject is now pretty well settled. The legislature never intended that tbe court should put itself in tbe place of tbe commission, try tbe matter anew as an administrative body, substituting its findings for those of tbe commission. A statute which so provided would be unconstitutional as a delegation to tbe judiciary of nonjudicial powers. Steenerson v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 69 Minn. 353, 375, 72 N. W. 713; Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line, 211 U. S. 210, 226, 29 Sup. Ct. 67, 53 L. ed. 150; Oregon R. R. & N. Co. v. Fairchild, 224 U. S. 510, 527, 32 Sup. Ct. 535, 56 L. ed. 863; Bacon v. Rutland R. R. Co. 232 U. S. 134, 34 Sup. Ct. 283, 58 L. ed. 538; Detroit & M. Ry. Co. v. [60]*60Michigan R. R. Comm. 235 U. S. 402, 35 Sup. Ct. 126, 59 L. ed. 288. The making of regulations which require a carrier to afford proper transportation facilities to the public, is legislative or administrative and not judicial in its nature. State v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 123 Minn. 463, 144 N. W. 155. The courts must not usurp legislative or administrative functions by setting aside a legislative or administrative order on their own conception of its wisdom. Interstate Comm. Commission v. Illinois Cent. R. Co. 215 U. S. 452, 470, 30 Sup. Ct. 155, 54 L. ed. 280. In Steenerson v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 69 Minn. 353, 375, 72 N. W. 713, 716, a rate case, this court, in construing the statute then in force, which was broader than the one now in force, held that it was the intention of the legislature that the court on appeal should “review the findings of the commission in the same manner as the appellate court reviews the findings of the jury on a trial in the court below. And for this purpose the court may ‘examine the whole matter in controversy, including matters of fact, as well as questions of law,’ ” but that the district court can review the findings of the commission only so far as to determine whether or not the rates fixed by the commission are reasonable. This presents a situation somewhat anomalous in that the court may receive evidence in order to determine whether findings of fact are sustainable, but we can conceive of no other fair construction of this statute that will at the same time confine the court within its constitutional powers. The court, on appeal from the order of the commission, must distinguish, then, between the legislative power to establish regulations and the judicial power to determine upon the reasonableness of regulations already established.

3. We address ourselves, then, to this question: Can the decision of the trial court that the order of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission was unreasonable be sustained? No court or commentator has yet undertaken to lay down a rule which shall furnish a test of what is reasonable that will fit every ease. “Indeed,” as said by Brewer, J., in Ames v. Union Pac. Ry. Co., 64 Fed. 165, 177, “it is doubtful whether any single rule can be laid down, applicable to all cases.” 2 Elliott, Railroads, § 692. Some things, however, are [61]*61definitely settled. The order may be vacated as unreasonable if it is contrary to some provision of the Federal or state constitution or laws, or if it is beyond the power granted to the commission, or if it is based on some mistake of law, or if there is no evidence to support it, or if, having regard to the interest of both the public and the carrier, it is so arbitrary as to be beyond the exercise of a reasonable discretion and judgment. Interstate Com. Commission v. Union Pac. R. R. Co. 222 U. S. 541, 547, 32 Sup. Ct. 108, 56 L. ed. 308; State v. Minneapolis & St. L. R. Co. 76 Minn. 469, 79 N. W. 510.

4. The pecuniary loss or profit to the carrier in executing the particular order is an important criterion in determining the reasonableness of the order, but it is not the only one. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. North C. Corp. Comn. 206 U. S. 1, 26, 27, 27 Sup. Ct. 585, 51 L. ed. 993, 11 Ann. Cas. 398; Missouri Pac. Ry. Co. v.

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Bluebook (online)
153 N.W. 247, 130 Minn. 57, 1915 Minn. LEXIS 516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-great-northern-railway-co-minn-1915.