76 Ala. 401 | Ala. | 1884
— The act to incorporate the port of Mobile, approved February Llth, 1879 (Pamph. Acts, 392, 409), confers authority on the city government to levy and collect a license-tax “from all persons or corporations trading, or carrying on any business, trade, or profession, by an agent or otherwise, within the limits of said corporation.” The Mobile police board, by an ordinance, ordained “ that the license-tax for the year from the 13th of March, 1883, to the 15th of March, 1884, be, and the same is hereby, fixed as follows: . . On telegraph companies, $225.” The Western Union Telegraph Company, a corporation chartered without the State, had an office in the port of Mobile, of which appellee was the chief manager. At that office, the company received and transmitted messages from and to points, both without and within the State of Alabama. It had complied with the requirements of the act of Congress, — Bevised Statutes, §§ 5263, et seq.
The telegraph company, through its agent, the appellee, refused to take out or pay for the license aforesaid, and continued to do business without such license. A penalty was assessed against the agent, for a violation of the ordinance, and this suit was-brought for its recovery. The defense was, that the ordinance is an attempt to regulate commerce, and violative of the clause of the Constitution of the United States which confers on Congress the “ power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States.” The Circuit Court held the defense good, and gave judgment against the port of Mobile.
Is the ordinance a violation of the Constitution of the United
The rulings of the Circuit Court were not in harmony with these views.
Reversed and remanded.