delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama.
The suit was brought by the plaintiffs below, commissioners t f pilotage of the harbor of Mobile, against the steamboat Bagaby, of which1 Sinnot, the defendant, was master, to recover certain penalties for a violation of the law of the State of Alabama, passed February 15, 1854, entitled “Án act to provide for the registration of the names of steamboat owners.”
The 1st section of the act provides that it shall be the duty of the owners of steamboats navigating the. waters of the State, beforе such boat shall leave the port of Mobile, to file in the office of the probate judge a statement in writing, setting forth the name <Kthe steamboat and of the owner or owners, his or their place or places of residence, and their interest therein, which statement shall bе signed and sworn to by the owners, or their agent or attorney, and which statement shall be recorded by the said judge • of probate; and, also, in case of a sale of said boat, it is made the duty of the vendee to file a statement of the change of ownership, his place of residence, and the interest transferred, which statement shall be signed by the vendor and vendee, his or their agent or attorney, and recorded in the office of the aforesaid judge.
The 2d section provides, that if any person or persons, being owner or owners of any steambоat, shall run, or permit the same to be run or navigated, on any of the waters of the State,
The steamboat Bagaby in question was seized apd detained under this act until discharged, on a bоnd being given to pay ■and satisfy any judgment that might be rendered in the suit. A judgment was subsequently rendered against the véssel in the city court of Mobile, for the penalty, of $500, with costs, which, on an appeal to the Supreme Court was affirmed.
The material facts in the case are, that the steamboаt was engaged in navigation and commerce between the city of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, and the cities of Montgomery and Wetumpka, in the State of Alabama, and that she touched at the city of Mobile only in the course of her navigation and trade between the ports and places above mentioned ; that she was an American vessel, built at Pittsburgh, in the State of Pennsylvania, and was duly enrolled and licensed in pursuance of the laws of tire United States, and had been, regularly cleared at the port of New Orleans for the ports of Montgomery and Wetumpka, whither she was destined at the time of the seizure and detention under the act in question.
The plaintiffs in error, the master, and stipulators in the court below, insist.that the judgment rendered against them is erroneous, upon the ground that the statute of the Legislature of the State оf Alabama is unconstitutional and void, it being in conflict with that clause in the Constitution which confers upon Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States,” and the acts of Congress passed in pursuance thereof. The act of Congress relied on is that of the 17th February, 1793, providing for the enrolment and .license of vessels engaged in the coasting trade. The force and effect of this act was examined in the case of Gibbons i?.- Ogden, (9 Wh., pp. 210, 214,) and it was there held that vessels enrolled and licensed in pursuance оf it had-con
The Chief Justice says, (speaking of the 1st section:) “This section seems to the court to contain a positive enactment that the vessels it describes shall be entitled to the privileges of ships or vessels employed in the coasting trade. These privileges cannot be separated from the trade, and cannot be enjoyed unless the trade may be prosecuted.” Again, the court say, to construe these words othеrwise than as entitling the ships or vessels described to carry on the coasting trade would be, we think, to disregard the apparent intent of the, act. And again, speaking of the license provided for in the 4th section, the word “license” means permission or authority; and a license tо do any particular- thing is a permission or authority to do that thing, and, if granted by a person having power to grant it, transfers to the grantee the right to do whatever it purports to authorize. It,certainly transfers to him all the right which the grantor can transfer, to do what is within the terms of the license.
The license is. general in its terms, according to the form ■given in the act of Congress: “License is hereby granted for the said steamboat (naming her) to be employed in carrying on the coasting trade for one year from the date hereof, and no longer.”
In the case already referred to, it was denied in the argument that these words authorized a voyage from New Jersey to New York. The court observed, in answer to this objec-,. tion : It is.true that no ports are specified; but it is equally true that the words used are perfectly intelligible, and do confer such authority as unquestionably as if the ports had been mentioned. The coasting trade is a term well understood. The law has defined it, and all know' its meaning perfectly. The act describes with great minuteness the various operations of vessels engaged -in it; and it cannot, we think, be doubted that a voyage from New Jejrsey to New York is one of those operations. '
On lobking into the act of Congress regulating the coasting trade, it will be found that many conditions are to be complied
Now, the act of the Legislature of the State of Alabama im-„ poses another and an additional condition to the privilege of carrying on this trade within her waters, namely: the filing of a statement in writing, in the ofiice of the probate judge of Mobile county, setting forth: 1. The name of the vessel; 2. The name of the owner or owners; 3. His or their place or places of residence; and 4. The interest each has in the vessel. Which statement must be sworn to by the party, or his agent or attorney. And the like statement, mutatis mutandis, is required to be made each time a change of owners of the vessel, takes place. Unless this condition of navigation and trade within the waters of Alabama is complied with, the vessel is forbidden to leave the port of Mobile, under the penalty of $500 for each offence.
If the interpretatiоn of the court, as to the force and effect of the privileges afforded to the vessel by the enrolment and license in. the case of Gibbons
v.
Ogden, are to be maintained^
If anything further could be necessary, we might refer to the enrolment pi escribed by the act of Congress, by which it is made the duty of the owner to furnish, under oath, to the colleótors; all the information required by this State law, and which is incoi porated in the body of the enrolment. Congress, therefore, has legislated on the very subject which the State act has undertaken to regulate, and has limited its regulation in the matter to a registry at the home port.
It has been argued, however, that this act of the State is but the exercise of a police power, which power has not been surrendered to the General Government, but reserved to the States; and hence, even if the law should be found in conflict with the act of Congress, it must still be regarded as a valid law, and as excepted out of and from the commercial power.
This position is not a new one; it has often been presented to this court, and in every instance the same answer givеn to it. It was strongly pressed in the New York case of Gibbons
v.
Ogden. The court, in answer to it, observed: “It has been contended, that if‘a law passed by a State, in the exercise of its acknowledged sovereignty, comes in conflict with a law passed by Congress in pursuance of the Constitution, thеy affect the subject and each other, like equal opposing forces.” But, the court say, the framers of the Constitution foresaw this state of things, and provided for it, by declaring the supremacy not only of itself, but of the laws made in pursuance of it. The nullity of any act inconsistent with the Cоnstitution is produced by the declaration that the Constitution is the supreme law. The appropriate application of that part of the clause which confers the same supremacy on laws and treaties, is to such acts of the State Legislatures as do not Transсend their powers, but, though-enacted in the execution of acknowledged State powers, interfere with or are contrary
We agree, that in the application of this principle of supremacy of an act of Congress in a case where the State law is but the exercise of a reserved poweiy the repugnance or conflict should be direct and positive, so that the two acts сould not' be reconciled or consistently stand together; and, also, that the act of Congress should have beeu passed in the exercise of a clear power under the Constitution, such as that in question.
The whole commercial marine of the country is placed by the Constitution under the regulation of Congress, and all laws passed by that body in the regulation of navigation and trade, whether foreign or coastwise, is therefore but the exercise of an undisputed power. When, therefore, an act of the Legislature of a State, prescribes a regulation of thé subject, repugnant to and inconsistent with the regulation of Congress, the State law must give way; and this, without regard to the source of power whence the State Legislature derived its.enactment.
This paramount authority of the act of Congress is not only conferred' by the Constitutiоn itself, but is the logical result of the power over the subject conferréd upon that body by the States. They surrendered this power to the General Government; and to the extent of the fair exercise of it by Congress, the act must be supreme.
The power of Congress, however, over thе subject does not extend further than the regulation of commerce with foreign nations and among the several States. Beyond these limits the States have not surrendered their power over the subject, and may exercise it. independently of any control or interference оf the General Government; and.thore has been much
These questions have arisen under the quarantine and health laws of the States — laws imposing a tax upon imports and passengers, admitted to have been passed under*the police power of the States, and which had not been surrendered to the General Government. The laws of the States have been upheld by the court, except in cases where they were in conflict, or were adjudged by the court to be in conflict, with the act of Congress.
Upon the whole, after the maturest consideration the court have been able to give to the case, we are constrained to hold, that, the act of the Legislature of the State is in conflict with the Constitution and law of the United States, and therefore void.
The judgment of the court below is reversed.