171 P. 906 | Ariz. | 1918
Lead Opinion
The Revised Statutes of Arizona (Civ. Code) of 1913, provide as follows:
*410 “Par. 2166. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, company or corporation, operating any railroad in the state of Arizona, to run, or permit to be run, over his, their, or its line of road, or any portion thereof, any train consisting of more than seventy freight, or other cars, exclusive of caboose. ’ ’
“Par 2168. Any person, firm, association, company, or corporation, operating any railroad in the state of Arizona, who shall willfully violate any of the provisions of this act, shall be liable to the state of Arizona for a penalty of not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, for each offense; and such penalty shall be recovered, and suits therefor brought by the Attorney General, or under his direction, in the name of the state of Arizona, in any county through which such railway may be run or operated, provided, however, that this act shall not apply in cases of engine,failures between terminals.”
The Attorney General brought a suit in the name of the state of Arizona against the railroad company to recover a penalty under the statute. The complaint, in substance, charged the railroad company with willfully operating a train between certain terminals consisting of more than 70 freight-cars exclusive of the caboose, which act in operating said train ■ of cars was not the result of an engine failure or failures between terminals. The state had the judgment as prayed, from which the railroad company appeals. Paragraph 2166, supra, is not criticised as an improper subject for legislative action, but the want of power in the legislature to enact the law is asserted as the defense of appellant to the suit; the contention being that under section 3 of article 15 of the Constitution the exercise of such governmental power vests in the Corporation Commission to the exclusion of any other agency of government.
In the ease of State v. Tucson Gas & Electric Co., 15 Ariz. 294, 138 Pac. 781, this court had occasion to consider this provision of the Constitution with reference to the power to fix and prescribe just and reasonable classifications to be used and just and reasonable rates and charges to be made and collected by public service corporations within the state for services rendered therein. It was there determined that such power was by the instrument vested exclusively in the Corporation Commission, but it is obvious that such a determina
The appellant, Arizona Eastern Eailroad Company, is a corporation for the transportation of persons and property for profit. It is a railway heretofore constructed in this state. Section-10 of article 15 of the Constitution provides:
“Eailways heretofore constructed, or that may hereafter be constructed, in this state, are hereby declared public highways, and all railroad, car, express, electric, transmission, telegraph, telephone, or pipe-line corporations, for the transportation of persons, or of electricity, messages, water, oil, or other property for profit, are declared to be common carriers and subject to control by law.”
It is seen that the appellant comes within the declaration of this section. Anyone who contends that this provision is not to have its full measure of application must have a case that comes within some other section which cuts it down, or else that the section itself is so repugnant to the general purview of the Constitution that it can be given no rational meaning. In section 10, supra, no concealment of the meaning may possibly occur by reason of the language there employed. It is plain and unambiguous. Not a dubious word appears. The general intent and meaning of the section stands out in bold relief. A railway as a public highway and a railroad corporation within the enumeration of corporations classed as common carriers is subject to control by law. If there be a prohibition or limitation, then, upon the exercise of this control, we must find the particular clause which subjects it to a limitation or qualification. ¥e have in this section a general intention expressed in the instrument, but if in any
In the Tucson Gas & Electric Company case, we found a particular intent in the matter of prescribing classifications, rates, and charges to be made and collected by public service corporations contained in section 3 which was incompatible with the general intent found in section 10; that the authority of the Corporation Commission to prescribe classifications, rates, and charges under said section is exclusive. Construing the various sections of article 15 of the Constitution together, and looking at the language employed with a regard to the general purview of the instrument, no other construction is possible if its several provisions are to be harmonized and made into a workable instrumentality. But it by no means follows that such an interpretation calls for an expression that the people have surrendered all governmental power over all corporations as they are classified either as public service corporations, common carriers, or public highways. Yet, if the view pressed upon this court by the appellant is to prevail, it naturally follows that the extent and elasticity of the power conferred upon the Corporation Commission in section 3 ‘is subversive of all legislative control whatsoever, and this regardless of other provisions to be found in the Constitution bearing upon the matter; that, by construction, section 10 is so much Dead Sea fruit turning to ashes upon the lips. It is perfectly clear that no such meaning can be deduced from article 15 if it be articulated and a general purview of its provisions obtained. It will be observed by section 2 that corporations are classified as public service corporations:
“See. 2. All corporations other than municipal engaged in carrying persons or property for hire; or in furnishing gas, oil, or electricity for light, fuel or power; or in furnishing water for irrigation, fire protection, or other public purposes; or in furnishing, for profit, hot or cold air or steam for heating or cooling purposes; or in transmitting messages or furnishing public telegraph or telephone service, and all*413 corporations other than municipal, operating as common carriers, shall be deemed public service corporations.”
In section 3 follows an enumeration of the powers and duties of the Corporation Commission with reference to this class of corporations. In section 10, railways are declared to be public highways, and after this declaration follows an enumeration of certain corporations — a railroad corporation being included — which are declared to be common carriers and subject to control by law.
Compared with section 2, in section 10 different words are used. There is a different nomenclature used in placing these corporations in the different classes. The natural presumption would be that the difference in language and in nomenclature was intended to express different ideas; each class to be governed by a separate purpose and to promote a particular object in view. The change of the form of expression in the two sections, in view of the entire enactment in which they occur, can indicate nothing else than a purpose to differentiate or change the meaning of the two sections. It is reasonably apparent from a consideration of the language of sections 2 and 3 that the idea there prevailing is the public service corporation, with those functions of the corporation uppermost which are called into activity and pertinent to its contact with the public. In short, the transaction of its business with the public.
“See. 3. The Corporation Commission shall have full power to, and shall prescribe just and reasonable classifications to be used, and just and reasonable rates and charges to be made and collected, by public service corporations within the state for service rendered therein, and make reasonable rules, regulations, and orders, by which such corporations símil be governed in the transaction of business within the state, and may prescribe the forms of contracts and the systems of keeping account's to be used by such corporations in transacting such business, and make and enforce reasonable rules, regulations, and orders for the convenience, comfort, and safety, and the preservation of the health of the employees and patrons of such corporation. ...” (Italics ours.)
The language of the fore part of this section is mandatory and compelling. The after part is permissive and discretionary. To prescribe classifications, rates, and charges of
It is noted in the first part of section 3 that the full power given to the Corporation Commission to make reasonable rules, regulations, and orders by which public service corporations shall be governed in the transaction of business within the state is a grant in general terms, and is associated with and directly follows the full power to prescribe classifications, rates, and charges, which is a specific power granted in particular terms and directly related to the subject matter of the transaction of its business by a public service corporation. "Whether, if there be doubt as to the extent of the power thereby granted in general terms, such doubt may be reasonably resolved by considering the two grants of power together, one specific and the other general, under the maxim noscitur <i> sociis, or within the rule governing the construction of statutes that general terms following particular ones must be tied to and made only to apply to such things as are ejusdem generis with those comprehended in the specifications, is a matter yet subject to conjecture. The ease at bar requires no solution of the question whether this grant of general power covers more or less ground than is reasonably necessary and proper to effectuate the objects of, and give full effect and vitality to, the grant of specific power. We merely glance in at the door, because the facts of this ease require no critical survey of the contents of the room. But we are clearly of the opinion that the general powers granted imperatively in the first part of section 3 have not the same
That the statute, in this ease attacked for want of power in the legislature to enact it, has a substantial relation to an object as to which the state is competent to legislate under its police power is not questioned, and the exercise of that power by the legislature, being nowhere denied in the Constitution, but expressly sanctioned and reserved by the instrument to the legislative department, it follows that the judgment of the superior court must be affirmed. It is so ordered.
ROSS, J., concurs.
Concurrence Opinion
(Concurring Specially). — Paragraph 2166, Revised Statutes of Arizona (Civ. Code) of 1913, attacked in this appeal on the grounds of constitutional invalidity owing to a lack of power in the legislature to enact, is in effect, if valid, a restriction upon the charter rights granted the appellant by the general law of its organization. Subdivisions (12) and (14) of paragraph 2151 of chapter 4, title 9, of the Revised Statutes of Arizona (Civ. Code) of 1913, grant to railroad corporations organized thereunder power:
(12) “To establish, execute and enforce all useful and proper rules and regulations for the management of their trains and business, and to secure the comfort, safety and good behavior of their passengers, employees and agents”; and (14) “such corporations shall have such further powers as may be necessary to enable them to exercise and enjoy, fully and completely, the powers granted by this title, and generally all such powers as are usually conferred upon, required and exercised by railroad companies.”
Paragraph 2150, Id.:
“ . . . And generally for the purpose of constructing and maintaining and operating said railroad . . . and carrying on their business, said corporations shall have and possess all the rights, powers, and privileges which are enjoyed by natural persons.”
The matter of the number of ears making up a train moved over a railroad is a matter pertaining to the operation of trains, and principally concerns the corporation and its em
No pretense is made that the Corporation Commission is granted power under section 3 of article 15 of the Constitution to make rules, regulations, and orders which have the effect of altering, amending, or repealing the charter rights or powers of public service corporations. Section 2, article 14, State Constitution, reserves to the legislative power of the state the exclusive right to interfere with the charter powers of corporations formed under general law, as follows:
“ . . . Laws relating to corporations may be altered, amended, or repealed at any time, and all corporations doing business in the state may, as to such business, be regulated, limited, and restrained by law.”
Hence the charter rights of railroad corporations organized under the provisions of chapter 4 of title 9 of the Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1913, to move trains composed of any number of ears, was subject to regulation, limitation, or restraint by law. The agency prescribing the “law” providing the regulation, limitation, or restraint to which the general incorporating laws are subject, of which the corporation had notice at the time of its organization, is definitely ascertained by reference to section 14 of article 14 of the State Constitution, reading as follows:
“This article shall not be construed to deny the right of the legislative power to impose other conditions upon corporations than those herein contained.”
Section 1, article 4, of the State Constitution expressly confines the exercise of the legislative power of government to a legislature, with a reserved power in the people to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and to enact or reject such laws and amendments at the polls, independently of the legislature. Hence the power of the legislature to enact paragraphs 2166 and 2168, prescribing a regulation limiting the power of the appellant corporation in the operation of its freight trains with regard to the number of cars composing such trains, and prescribing a penalty for a violation of such regulation, is a valid exercise of legislative au
I concur in the order of the court, but I do not concur in placing the authority of the legislature to enact the law upon the police power of government. I prefer to base the legislation upon the powers expressly reserved, and to hold the exercise of the powers so clearly falling within the constitutional reservations. The judgment should be affirmed.
