25 Colo. 508 | Colo. | 1898
delivered the opinion of the court.
Erom the language employed in the information, it is evident that plaintiffs in error were' prosecuted under the sections above quoted, and the propositions advanced by their counsel are, that if it should be held that the information
It is well known that the object of vesting congress with the exclusive power to regulate commerce between the several states was for the purpose of insuring uniform provisions on the subject. Without this limitation on state legislation, the union and harmony between the states would be injuriously affected by each state seeking to protect its own interests through the imposition of discriminating taxes or duties on imports from other states, so that in order to prevent commerce with each other from being restricted, and retaliatory legislation on the subject resorted to, which would beget irritation that would seek gratification in legislation regardless of consequences, it was imperative that for the regulation of commerce the power and authority to levy imposts and duties should only be exercised by a single authority. State v. North and Scott, 27 Mo. 464; Walling v. Michigan, 116 U. S. 446. The wisdom of'this provision of the federal constitution is made apparent from an examination of the many authorities on this subject, from which it appears that not
The questions here presented have been before the courts many times, the rulings upon which may be summarized as follows:
1. That the several states have no authority to make regulations in relation to articles of commerce dependent upon the state from which they are brought.
2. A state, through its legislature, may require a license to engage in any trade, business or profession, but such license must be uniform, and not discriminate in favor of one class and against another, nor in favor of its own citizens as against those of other states or require a license which will constitute a regulation of interstate commerce. Walling v. Michigan, supra; Higgins v. Three Hundred Casks of Lime, 130 Mass. 1; State v. Furbush, 72 Maine, 493; Ward v. Md., 12 Wall. 418; Welton v. State of Mo., 91 U. S. 275; Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U. S. 434; Stoutenburgh v. Henneck, 129 U. S. 141; Brennan v. Titusville, 153 U. S. 289; Robbins v. Shelby Co., 120 U. S. 439; 13 Enc. of Law, 520.
Sec. 2823, without the proviso, was enacted by the territorial legislature in 1861; secs. 2828-2829 were passed at the same time. In 1862 the proviso was added to sec. 2823, whereby, under this section, as thus amended, all persons except those dealing in specified classes of merchandise are required to take out a license. By sec. 2828 a penalty is provided for a failure to obtain such license, while by sec. 2829 there is a further limitation of the persons who are subject to such license, so that it requires a construction of these sections as a whole, in order to ascertain what persons are subject to a license, and they are, therefore, so inseparably connected in substance, and interdependent, that one qualifies the other, and they must be read together, for the purpose of ascertaining the intent of the legislature, and their legal effect
The judgment of the county court is reversed, and the-cause remanded for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.