294 F. 703 | E.D. Mich. | 1923
Plaintiffs seek to have enforcement of Act 209 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1923 enjoined upon the ground of its alleged unconstitutionality, both under the Michigan and the federal Constitutions. They contend: (1) That it violates section 21 of article 5 of the Constitution of Michigan, in that its real object is not expressed in the title, and in that it contains a plurality of objects. (2) That it violates the interstate commerce clause of the federal Constitution, in that it unlawfully regulates and burdens interstate commerce. (3) That the Federal Highway Act (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 7477J4 seq.) precludes the enactment of a tax for the use of roads built partly with federal aid. (4) That the act is discriminatory class legislation. (5) That it is void for uncertainty and indefiniteness.
“No law shall embrace more than one object which shall be expressed in its title.” Jasnowski v. Board of Assessors, 191 Mich. 287, 157 N. W. 891; Loomis v. Rogers, 197 Mich. 265, 163 N. W. 1018; Attorney General v. Hillyer, 221 Mich. 537, 191 N. W. 827.
“The movement of motor vehicles over the highways is attended by constant and serious dangers to the public, and is also abnormally destructive to the ways themselves. Their success depends on good roads, the construction and maintenance of which are exceedingly expensive. * * * In the absence*708 of national legislation covering the subject, a state may rightfully prescribe uniform regulations necessary for public safety and order in respect to the operation upon its highways of all motor vehicles — those moving_ in interstate commerce as well as others. * * * This is but an exercise of the police power, uniformly recognized as belonging to the states, and essential to the health, safety and comfort of their citizens, and it does not constitute a direct and material burden on interstate commerce. * * * The amount of the charges and the method of collection are primarily for determination by the state itself; and so long as they are reasonable and are fixed according to some uniform, fair, and practical standard, they constitute no burden on interstate commerce.” '
Plaintiffs have not successfully distinguished the Kane and Hendrick; Cases from the instant case, in so- far as they relate to interstate commerce. -The vehicles sought to be regulated by the Michigan, statute are commercial vehicles carrying both passengers and freight. It may be well considered that their operations involve a greater menace to public safety and are more destructive of the highways than are private automobiles operated for pleasure, and that they call for- a greater degree of regulation and a higher compensation for the use of special facilities afforded.
“All highways constructed or reconstructed under the provisions of this act shall be- free from tolls of all hinds.”
This is not in our judgment intended to refer to license fees such as are here involved (it not being even claimed that such act has reference to the analogous fees imposed under general motor vehicle license laws,
The statute is not cla^s legislation because it applies only to common carriers operating over fixed routes. It is well known that commercial motor vehicle transportation, and highway maintenance expense resulting therefrom, is rapidly increasing; that traffic on main highways is greatly congested. It is not an unreasonable classification under the police power to make a distinction between those common carriers whose use of the highways is more regular, and herice more frequent, and whose operation on the highways is attended with greater danger to life and property, and greater damage to the highways, and those carriers whose use of the highways is only occasional and spasmodic. Such a distinction does not constitute an arbitrary discrimination, it being settled that every state of facts sufficient to sustain a classification which can be reasonably conceived of as having existed when the statute was enacted will be assumed by the court. Crescent Cotton Oil Co. v. Mississippi, 257 U. S. 129, 42 Sup. Ct. 42, 66 L. Ed. 166; Nolen v. Riechman, supra.
The latter case was decided by a special court convened under section 266 of the Judicial Code, in the District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division, opinion rendered by War-rington, Circuit Judge, and McCall and Sanford, District Judges. There was involved a statute seeking to regulate as common carriers “any public conveyance propelled by steam, * * * gasoline, * * *
“While the services they all render are those of common carrier, yet the services are so different in detail that it would be wholly impracticable to write a statute applicable to them all and serve at the same time the convenience and safety of the public.”
The distinction between a jitney and a taxicab is precisely the distinction which the plaintiff contends results in discriminatory classification in the instant case. The jitney operates upon a schedule over fixed routes and between fixed termini, while the operations of the taxicab are more flexible and occasional. They áre both common carriers, but the incidents of their operation differ, and call for different kinds of regulation.
We conclude that Act 209, except sections 3 and 7 thereof, is a valid exercise of the police power of the state, and that the regulatory provisions thereof' for the use of the state highways are operative inde-
The injunction prayed for in the hill of complaint is denied.
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