United States v. Lehigh Valley R. Co.

184 F. 971, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 5084
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western New York
DecidedJanuary 9, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 184 F. 971 (United States v. Lehigh Valley R. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lehigh Valley R. Co., 184 F. 971, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 5084 (circtwdny 1911).

Opinion

HOLT, District Judge.

These cases are brought to recover penalties under Act June 29, 1906, c. 3594, 34 Stat. 607 (U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1909, p. 1178), to prevent cruelty to animals while in transit by railroad, commonly called the “28-hour law.”

In each of these cases cattle were shipped in cars from places in the state of Illinois or Michigan to Detroit, thence through Canada to Niagara Falls, and thence to places in the state of New York. In each case the cattle were confined in the cars more than 36 hours without being fed or watered or unloaded for rest, in violation of the statute. In some of these cases formal demurrers have been filed, and in the other cases it has been stipulated that they be deemed brought to trial, and motions made to dismiss the complaint.

All these cases have been argued together, and in them two defenses are urged. One is that the 28-hour law does riot apply to a shipment of cattle which passes from one state through a foreign country to another state. In some of the cases the claim is also made that, the statutory period of confinement having expired before the cattle came into the defendants’ possession, no liability under the act could be imposed upon them until an additional 28 or 36 hours had passed.

The claim that the 28-hour law does not apply to the case of a shipment of cattle through any foreign country is based upon the language of the act, which makes it an offense for any railroad company, transporting cattle or other animals from one state into or through another state, to confine them in cars for a period longer than 28 consecutive hours, without unloading them for water, feeding, and rest, for a period of at least five consecutive hours, with the provision that under certain circumstances 36 hours should be the limit of time. In short, the claim is that the words in the statute “from one state into another state” cannot properly be held to include transportation from one state through a foreign jurisdiction into another state. It is claimed that Congress might have made the provisions of this statute applicable to foreign commerce, for example, that the act by its terms might have been made expressly applicable (1) to shipments originating in Canada and passing into and terminating in one of the United States; (2) to shipments originating in Canada, passing into the United States, and terminating in Canada; (3) to shipments originating in the United States, passing into Canada, and terminating in the United States. The defendants claim that the act clearly does not apply to either of such cases, and that Congress intended not to legislate in respect to such cases, in view of the fact that Canada has a law for the prevention of cruelty to animals, and international complications might result from an attempt by the United States to deal with the question of such shipments. It is argued that, as the law is well settled that transportation which originates and terminates in one [973]*973state nevertheless constitutes interstate commerce if it passes in transit, at any point, beyond the boundaries of said state (Hanley v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co., 187 U. S. 617, 23 Sup. Ct. 214, 47 L. Ed. 333), it follows that, when transportation passes beyond the boundaries of a single state into a foreign country and then terminates in the United States, it becomes foreign commerce, and that the 28-hour law does not assume to regulate foreign commerce, but only commerce between the several states.

The defendants’ counsel, in support of this contention, also refers to the fact that several acts of Congress, dealing with questions arising under the commerce clause of the Constitution, expressly provide for such a case. Thus, the first section of the act to regulate commerce, of 1887, provides that the provisions of that act shall apply to any common carrier engaged in the transportation of passengers or property “from one state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or from any place^ in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States. * * * or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States." Act Feb. 4, 1887, c. 104; 24 Stat. 379 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901. p. 3154). The arbitration act, approved June 1, 1898, provides that the provisions of that act shall apply to any common carrier engaged in the transportation of passengers or property from one state to any other state, “or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to anv oilier place in the United States.” Act June 1, 1898, c. 370, 30 Stat 424 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3205). There is a similar provision in the hours of service law, approved March 4, 1907 (chapter 2939, 34 Stat. 1415 [U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1909, p. 1170]).

Undoubtedly, if the 28-hour law had contained such a provision as is contained in the other statutes referred to, and had expressly provided that it should apply to the case of the transportation of cattle from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, that would have been decisive of the question raised in this case; but 1 cannot think that the mere omission of that expression in the act justifies the inference that Congress did not intend to have the 28-hour law apply to such a case. These shipments of cattle came within the literal provisions of the law. They were shipments from one state into another state. The fact that, in the course of such shipment, they passed through the Dominion of Canada, did not alter the fact that the shipments were from places in the state of Illinois or Michigan to places in the state of New York. The railway routes from Detroit to Niagara Falls, through the Province of Ontario, form parts of great standard railroad lines from Chicago and the West to New York. Congress concededly had the power to regulate shipments over such a line. The object of the act was obviously to prevent cruelty to animals, to protect the property of shippers, and to prevent injury to the public health from the sale for food of cattle made ill [974]*974and feverish by hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. I cannot believe that Congress intended to impose a penalty for such cruelty to animals on a line from Chicago to New York, which passes entirely through the United States, and not impose any penalty for similar cruelty on another line from Chicago to New York which between Detroit and Niagara Falls passes through Canada. If such a distinction be recognized, it will be possible for the shippers, and the railroads themselves, to avoid all liability under the act, in transporting cattle from Chicago to New York, by shipping them all by the routes which pass through Canada.

It may be that the omission of any provision in the 28-hour law for the punishment of cruelty to animals shipped from Canada into the United States was intentional. Congress may have taken into consideration the fact that Canada has a similar law, and may have intended to avoid any international complications which might arise in such cases. But I cannot think that Congress intended to exempt from the operations of the act such shipments between points in the Western and Eastern states as, during a part of the trip, happen to pass through Canada, especially in view of the fact that cattle upon such routes are usually taken through in sealed cars, bonded under the customs laws. Such a shipment is in fact from a state to a state.

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Bluebook (online)
184 F. 971, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 5084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lehigh-valley-r-co-circtwdny-1911.