65 Pa. 399 | Pa. | 1870
The opinion of the’court was delivered, July 7th 1870, by
It is a difficult problem now to define the boundaries of state and Federal powers. The doctrine of the rights of states pushed to excess culminated in ciyil war. The rebound caused by the success of the Federal arms threatens a consolidation equally serious. In this condition the landmarks of the Constitution, as planted by Chief Justice Marshall and his associates on the solid ground of reason, and a due regard to the rights of the states and of the Union, constitute the only safe guides of decisions The power of Pennsylvania to legislate upon the navigation of the river Susquehanna, which is the question in this case, involves a Federal power exceedingly intimate in its relations to the subjects of state sovereignty. The power to “regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes,” “ cannot stop (says Marshall, C. J.) at the external boundary line of each state, but may be introduced into the interior.” It comprehends “ navigation within the limits of every state of the Union, so far as that navigation may be in any manner connected with commerce,” either foreign or interstate, and “ may therefore pass the jurisdictional lines of the states, and
But though this large field of state power is conceded, a difficulty arises sometimes in relation to its subjects when they become the objects of the exercise of the Federal power also. Thus says Mr. Story, in his work on the Constitution: “A state may use the same means to effectuate an acknowledged power in itself which Congress may apply for another purpose. Congress may make that a regulation of commerce which a state may employ as a guard for its internal policy, or to preserve the public health or peace, or to promote its peculiar interests.” An illustration will be found in the case of Willson v. Blackbird Creek Marsh Co., 2 Pet. 245, in which the authority of a law of Delaware was questioned. The plea stated the creek to be a navigable highway, in which tide ebbed and flowed, and the argument insisted that the law of the state conflicted with the power to regulate commerce. Bui; its validity was sustained on the ground that the erection of the dam was necessary for the benefit of the citizens of Delaware, and not opposed to any law of Congress, none having been passed to regulate such streams; and in the expressive language of Chiéf Justice Marshall, it was not repugnant to the power to regulate commerce in its dormant state, This distinction, in regard to the exercise of the power by Congress, is important as coming from the .distinguished author of the opinion in Gibbons v. Ogden, sometimes quoted to carry the power
But without standing on what some may regard as debateable ground, it seems to be clear that when a state exercises her own sovereign power in a matter involving the interests of her citizens, though it may touch upon a subject within the field of the power to regulate commerce, it is not for that reason invalid if it conflicts with no law Congress has passed upon the same subject. Thus pilot laws, though regarded as directly affecting a subject of commerce, have been held to be valid: Cooley v. Board of Wardens, 12 How. 299; Pacific Steamship Co. v. Joliffe, 2 Wall. U. S. 450. So a law of Maryland forfeiting vessels engaged in catching oysters in an unlawful manner in the Chesapeake Bay is not invalid, though the vessel was duly enrolled and licensed under the Acts of Congress, and employed in the coasting trade. A law of New York, requiring the masters of vessels coming into port from abroad to make report within twenty-four hours of the names, places of birth, of last legal settlement, age and occupation of the passengers, was decided to be good as an exercise of the police power: City of New York v. Miln, 11 Pet. 102. In the License Cases, 5 How. 504, the laws of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire were held not to be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States. A tax in Louisiana on brokers of foreign bills was held not to be repugnant: Nathan v. Louisiana, 8 How. 73. See also Weaver v. Fegely, 5 Casey 27—weights and measures; White v. Commonwealth, 4 Binn. 418; Fox v. Ohio, 5 How. 410—counterfeiting United States coin. Analogies also will be found in reference to the power over the militia: Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 1. The power to establish uniform bankrupt, laws: Sturgis v. Crowningshield, 4 Wheat. 196. To enact naturalization laws: Chirac v. Chirac, 2 Id. 269.
The court below having sustained the position of the plaintiffs, that the legislation of Maryland and Pennsylvania created a contract between these states, that the Susquehanna is a public highway to the Maryland line, and that any corporation or individuals should have authority t.o remove all natural and artificial obstructions therefrom; we pass to the next -question.. The plaintiffs assert that the modern mode of driving by floating logs loosely in the stream, and following after them to dislodge those that are stranded, has become a recognised mode of navigation, and therefore thaY the Act of 1866 infringes the contract between the states. This is not strictly correct. Driving, as it is called, is chiefly confined to the West Branch of the Susquehanna, where booms have been provided by law for catching the logs and delivering them to
Clearly such a use of the river is improper, and conflicts with the rights of others: Dubois v. Glaub, 2 P. F. Smith 238. We think the state, in the exercise of her sovereign authority and police power, had a right to forbid such a mode of using the stream.
The next question is, whether the mode of forfeiture provided in the law is valid. The 2d section of the Act o.f 1866 forfeits the title of the owner, if the logs be found floating loose in the stream and not in the personal charge of some one upon them, and vests it in the captor, at the expiration of two months, if the owner do not appear within that time and pay the captor 50 cents for every log taken up.
Thus the Act of 1866 expressly directs that logs floated loosely in the stream not under the control of men (and which the 2d section proceeds to.prohibit, and declare a consequent forfeiture of the logs), shall be taken up under the provisions of the 1st section of the Act of 1812. And without this plain language the identity of the subject of legislation and the necessity of notice to make the law valid, require us to hold that the Act of 1812 and its supplements are to be construed in pari materia with the Act of 1866.
The only objection that can be urged against the charge as to the measure of damages is, that the court assumed that the logs were captured by the defendants under an honest belief that they were forfeited — a matter rather for the jury. The action of replevin lies wherever one man claims goods in the possession of another without regard to the manner in which possession was obtained. But it is equally well settled that upon the question of
Judgment reversed, and a venire de novo awarded.
The defendants, under their writs of error, assigned for error the answers of the court to their 3d and 4th points. They were argued by
The opinion of the court was delivered, July 7th 1870, by
The main questions arising in this case have been considered and disposed of in the writ of error of Craig & Blanchard v. Kline: Opinion just read. In the present writ of error the only question is upon the right of the defendants to take up the logs found lying upon the islands and not afloat. We have said in the other writ of error that the 2d section of the Act of 1866 must be taken in connection with the former acts on the same subject, and that the proceedings and notice required by the Act of 1812, as altered and modified by its supplements, are applicable to seizures of logs under the Act of 1866. The defendants had a right to take up the logs lying on the islands under the Acts of 1812,1853, and 1855, as explained by the 1st section of the Act of 1866. But having failed to comply with their provisions as to the mode of taking up the logs, the plaintiffs were entitled to recover, so that substantially the instruction of the court led to the correct result; and the judgment is affirmed.