delivered the opinion of the court.
This writ of error brings under review á judgment of the Supreme Court of Michigan (168 Michigan, 230), awarding a peremptory writ of mandamus directing plaintiff in error, with respect to intrastate traffic, to interchange cars, carload shipments, less than carload shipments, and passenger traffic with the Detrbit United Railway at the point of physical connection between, the tracks
The Michigan Railway Commission, defendant in error, is a public administrative body, continued and existing under Act No. 300 of the Public Acts of 1909 as the successor of a similar commission established by Act No. 312 of the Public Acts of 1907. It has ample regulative powers, originally conferred by the 1907 act and continued by the 1909 act without modification material to the present controversy.
. In the early part of the year 1908 petitions were filed before the Commission by certain merchants resident in Ortonville and Goodrich, asking that a physical connection be established between the tracks of the Michigan Central and Detroit United at Oxford for the interchange of cars, carload shipments, less.’than carload shipments, and passenger traffic. The Michigan Central answered denying that' it would be practicable to construct and maintain such a physical connection, and denying the authority of the Commission to order any such connection for the purposes mentioned in the complaint. The Detroit United аnswered denying the practicability, of interchanging carload shipments (supposing a physical connection to have been established), without unreasonable expenditure of money in changing its road and equipment. There was a full hearing, at which both companies were represented. The questions beforé the Commission were three: (a) Is a physical connection between the tracks at Oxford practicable; (b) Can the interchange of business be accomplished without endangering the equipment, tracks, or appliances of either party; and (c) Are the facts and circumstances such as to reasonably justify
The issuance of the mandamus was opposed upon the ground (among others), that the Commission’s order and the statutes purporting to authorize it were repugnant to
The act establishing the Michigan Railroad Commission, as it stood after amendment by Public Acts 1911, No. 139, was under consideration in Grand Trunk Ry. v. Michigan Ry. Comm.,
The argument submitted here in behalf of plaintiff in error has taken a wide range, many of the contentions being matters purely of local law, and these so interwoven with the discussion of Federal questions that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish them. It оught to be unnecessary to say that whether distinctions have heretofore been recognized, under the laws of Michigan, between “railroads” and “street railways”; whether the acts of 1907 and 1909 preserve or disregard these distinctions; and whether § 7 was intended to apply to both kinds of roads or to “railroads” only; are questions with which this court has no proper concern, they being conclusively disposed of by the decision of the state court of last resort in the present case. 'So, also, it is, for all purposes of our jurisdiction, established not only, that the Commission in making the order, acted in the authprized еxercise of the State’s power of regulation, but that the two companies are legally competent to perform the duties thereby imposed upon them respectively.
That a State, in virtue of its authority to regulate railroads as public highways, may in a proper case require two companies to make a connection between their tracks so as to facilitate the interchange of traffic, without thereby violating rights secured by the Constitution of the United
That a State, acting within its jurisdiction and not in hostility to any Federal regulation of interstate commerce, may compel the carrier to accept loaded cars from another line and transport them over its own, such requirement being reasonable in itself, is settléd by Chi., Mil. & St. P. Ry. v. Iowa, 233 XL S. 334, 344. In that case it was held there was no essential difference, so far as concerned the power of the State, between such an order and one requiring the carrier to make track connections and receive cars from connecting roads in order that' reasonably adequate facilities for traffic might be provided.
It seems to us that the principle of these decisions sustains also the State’s power to make a reasonаble order requiring a carrier to permit empty or loaded cars owned by it to be hauled from its line upon the connecting line for purposes of loading or delivery of intrastate freight, and to permit the cars of other carriers loaded with such freight consigned to points on the connecting line to be hauled from, its line upon the connecting line for purposes of delivery. This question was left undetermined in McNeill v. Southern Railway,
The contentions of plaintiff in error to the contrary will be briefly considered.
It is said that section 7 b оf the 1907 act, as reenacted in 1909, under which the Commission’s order was made, permits the use of suburban and interurban railroads for the handling of freight in carload lots in steam railroad freight cars only “in the same manner and under the same general conditions, except as to motive power, as belt line railroads and terminal railroads are now or may hereafter be used for like purposés.” And it is insisted that the
It is said the statute as construed and enforced by the Commission and the Supreme Court is repugnant to the “due process” clause because it in effect requires a delivery.
The insistence that the property of plaintiff in error in its cars is taken by the order requiring it to deliver them to the Detroit United Railway involves, as we think, a fundamental error, in that it overlooks the fact that the vehicles of transportation, like the railroad upon which they run, although acquired through the expenditure of private capital, are devoted to a public use,, and thereby are subjected to the reasonable exercise of the power of the State to regulate that use, so far at least as intrastate commerce is concerned. Munn v. Illinois,
To speak of the order as requiring the cars of plaintiff in error to be delivered to the. Detroit United “for the use of that company” involves a fallacy. The order is designed for the benefit of the public having occasion to employ the connecting lines in through transportation. The Detroit United, like the Michigan Central, acts in the. matter as a public agency.
The contention that no provision is made for the paramount needs of plaintiff in error for the use of its own equipment, nor for the prompt return or adjustment for loss or damage to such equipment, nor for compensation for the use thereof, is not substantial. The order is to receive a reasonable interpretation, and according to its own recitals is to be read in the light of the opinion of the Commission, which shows that it is not intended to have an effect inconsistent with the other operations of the company. It was expressly found that there was no special ground for apprehending loss or damage to the equipment. Certainly the order does not exclude the ordinary remedies for delay in returning cars or for loss or damage to them. Nor does it contemplate that plaintiff in error shall be required to permit the use of its cars (or of the cars of other carriers for which it is responsible) off its line without compensation. The state court' expressly held that § 7 c provides for reasonable compensation to the
Plaintiff in error relies upon Central Stock Yards v. Louis. & Nash. R. R.,
There remains the contention that the statute and the order made in pursuance of it operate as a burden upon and interference with interstate commerce. That the order intrinsically applies only to intrastate traffic was held by the state court in this case, upon the ground that the jurisdiction of the Commission is thus limited; and in this the court did but follow its previous ruling in Ann Arbor R. R. v. Railroad Commission, 163 Michigan, 49. Therefore, the contention under the- Commerce Clause is narrowed to the single point that the order requires the cars of the Michigan Central to be turned over to the connecting carrier “at all times and under all circumstances and without reference to the needs and demands of interstate commerce.” But it seems to us that this is an unreasоnable construction of the order. By its terms, as thus far construed by ihe state court, it merely requires the two companies to interchange cars, carload shipments,
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
Michigan Public Acts 1907, No. 312.
“Sec.' 7. . . . (b) Where it is practicable and the same may be accomplished without endangering the equipment, tracks, or appliances of either party, the commission may, upon application, require steam, railroads and interurban and suburban railroads to interchange cars, carload shipments, less than carload shipments, and passenger traffic, and for that purpose may require the construction of physical connections upon such terms as it may determine: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to require through billing of freight as between steam and electric, suburban or interurban railroads, but such suburban and interurban railroads may be used for the handling of freight in carload lots in steam railroad freight cars between shippers or consignees and the steam railroads, in the same manner and under the same general conditions, except as ‘to motive power, as belt line railroads and terminal railroads are now or may hereafter be used for like purposes.
“ (c) Every corporation owning a railroad in use shall, at reasonable times and for a reasonable compensation, draw over the same the merchandise and cars of any other corporation or individual having connecting tracks: Prodded', Such cars are of the proper gauge, are in good running order and equipped as required by law and otherwise safe for transportation and properly loaded: Provided further, If the corpora- , tions cannot agree upon the times .at which the cars shall be drawn, or the compensation to be paid, the said commission shall, upon petition of either party and notice to the other, after hearing the parties interested, determine the rate of compensation and fix such other periods, having reference to the convenience and interests of the corporation or corporations, and the public to be accommodated thereby, and the award of the commission shall be binding' upon the respective corpora^ tions interested therein until the same shall have been revised. . . .
*622 ■ “Sec. 24. . . . (b) The commission may at any time, upon application of any person or any railroad, and upon notice to the parties interested, including the railroad, and after opportunity to be heard as provided in section twenty-two, rescind, alter or" amend any order fixing any rate or rates, fares, charges or classifications, or any other order made by the commission, and.certified copies shall be served and take effect as herein provided for original orders.
“Sec. 25. All rates, fares, charges, classifications and joint rates fixed by the commission and all regulations, prаctices and services prescribed by the commission shall be in force and shall be prima facie, lawful and reasonable until finally found otherwise in an action brought for the purpose pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-six of this act, or until changed or modified by the comimission as provided for in paragraph (6), section twenty-four of this act.
“Sec. 26. (a) Any railroad or other party in interest, being dissatisfied with any order of the commission fixing any rate or rates, fares, charges, classifications, joint rate or rates, or any order fixing, any regulations, practices or services, may within sixty days commence an action in the circuit court in chancery against the commission as defendant to vacate and set aside any such order on the ground that the rate or rates, fares, charges, classifications, joint rate or rates fixed is unlawful or unreasonable,-or that any such regulation, practice or service fixed in such order is unreasonable; in which suit the commission shall be served with a subpoena. The commission shall file its answer, and on leave of court any interested party may file an answer to said complaint, whereupon said action shall be at issue and stand ready for hearing upon ten days’ notice by either party. All suits brought under this section shall have precedence over any civil cause of a different nature pending in such court, and the circuit court shall always be deemed open for the hearing thereof, and the same shall proceed, be tried and determined as other chancery suits. Any party to such'suit •may introduce original evidence in addition to the transcript of evidence offered to said commission, and the circuit courts in chancery-are hereby given jurisdiction of such suits and empowered to affirm, vacate or set aside the order of the commission in whole or in part, and to make such other order or decree as the courts shall decide to be in accordance with the facts and the law.
*623 “ (c) If, upon the trial of said action, evidence shall be introduced by the complainant which is found by the court to be different from that offered upon the hearing before the commission, or additional thereto, the court, before proceeding to render judgment, unless the parties in such action stipulate in writing to the contrary, shall transmit a copy of such evidence to the commission, and shall stay further proceedings in said action fоr fifteen days from the date, of such transmission. Upon receipt of such evidence the commission shall consider the same, and may alter, modify, amend and rescind its order relating to such rate ot rates, fares, charges, classifications, joint rate or rates, regulations, practice or service complained of in said action, and shall report its action thereon to said court' within ten days from the receipt of such evidence.
“(d) If the commission shall rescind its order complained of, the action shall be dismissed; if it shall alter, modify or amend the same, such altered, modified or amended order shall take the place of the original order complained of, and judgment shall be rendered thereon as though made by the commission in the first instance. If the original order shall not be rescinded or changed by the commission, judgment shall be rendered upon such original order.
“ (e) Either party to said action, within sixty days after service of a copy of the order or judgment of the court, may appeal to the supreme court, which appeal shall be governed by the statutes governing chancery appeals. When the appeal is taken the case shall, on the return of the рapers to the supreme court, be immediately placed on the calendar of the then pending term, and shall be brought to a hearing in the same manner as other cases on the calendar, or, if no term is then pending, shall take precedence of a different nature (sic), except criminal cases at the next term of the supreme court.
“(f) In all actions under this section the burden of proof shall be upon the complainant to show by clear and satisfactory evidence that the order of the commission complained of is unlawful or unreasonable, as the case may be.”
The foregoing provisions were substantially reenacted in Public Acts 1909, No. 300, as §§ 7 b and c, 24, 25, 26 a, c, d, and e respectively.
