179 Ind. 23 | Ind. | 1913
This was an action brought by appellee against appellant to recover the statutory penalty provided by §3 of the act of 1907 (Acts 1907 p. 186, §5280 Burns 1908). That section reads as follows: “That it shall be unlawful for any such common, carrier to haul, or permit to be hauled or used on its line, any locomotive, ear, tender, or similar vehicle used in moving of state traffic not provided with secure grabirons or handholds in the sides or ends thereof.” The penalizing section is §10 of said act (§5287 Burns 1908), and re'ads as follows: “That every such common carrier, or the receiver thereof, using, or permitting to be used or hauled on its line, any locomotive, tender, car, or similar vehicle or train, in violation of any of the provisions of this act, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each violation, to be recovered in a suit or suits to be brought by and in the name of the railroad commission of Indiana for the use of the State of Indiana in any circuit or superior court of this state having jurisdiction over such offending carrier. * * * .”
The claimed insufficiency of the complaint for want of facts, and the want of jurisdiction of the subject-matter is based on the assumption that courts take judicial notice that appellant was at the time engaged in interstate commerce. No authority for that proposition is cited, and we are unable to find authority for it, and we think it is an erroneous assumption.
The real controversy in the case arises over the action of the court in sustaining a demurrer to the answer. The answer is predicated on the alleged facts that on February 24, 1910, appellant was and now is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Virginia, and is a railroad company engaged in the operation of a railroad and the carrying of passengers and freight for hire; that it was and is engaged in interstate commerce between states of the United States, has railroad tracks and is operating a railroad as a common carrier in ten states and in the District of Columbia, and is engaged in interstate commerce in the State of Indiana, and was at said time; that all its locomotives and cars, including the car mentioned in plaintiff’s complaint, were frequently and commonly used in interstate traffic; that on February 24,
The federal safety appliance act of March 2, 1893, by its fourth section, provided: “That from and after the first day of July Eighteen hundred and ninety five * * * it shall be unlawful for any railroad company to use any car in interstate commerce that is not provided with secure grabirons and handholds in the ends and sides of each car, for greater security to men in coupling and uncoupling ears.” U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901 p. 3174. The act was amended March 2, 1903 by §1 as follows: “Be it enacted
The sixth section of the act of 1893, as amended in 1896, provides a penalty of $100 for each violation of the act, and for action on part of the United States district attorney in the district court of the United States having jurisdiction. 29 U. S. Stat. at Large 85, Ch. 87.
It is the contention of appellant, (1) that the sole jurisdiction for punishment for the violation alleged in the complaint is in the United States District Court, and (2) that the interstate commerce act having covered the same field under the power “to regulate commerce” the Indiana statute is void as to a car used on a railroad engaged in interstate commerce, whether the car be loaded and delivered within a state, or whether moved loaded or empty within a state. The answer set out sufficiently discloses appellant’s contention and theory.
The solution of the second proposition necessarily determines the first, for the reason that if the federal act is alone controlling, the action to impose a penalty must be in the United States courts, while if the federal act is not controlling as to the subject-matter itself, it is not claimed that there is want of jurisdiction in the state courts.
The controversy is made to wage around the question whether the act of congress refers to and includes any car in use at any time on any railroad engaged in interstate commerce generally, or in any interstate train, irrespective of whether it is at any particular time carrying an intra
It is the urgency of appellee that the State act is not an effort to regulate or interfere with interstate commerce, and is in aid of the safety appliance acts of congress, and not repugnant thereto, and that where they do not conflict the carrier is answerable to both statutes.
The car in question was at the time used in hauling an wholly intra-state shipment; it was in a train all the other cars of which were used in interstate shipments, or passing from Illinois into or through Indiana, by a train originating in the former state, manned by a crew coming from Illinois. The answer seems to have been drawn under the theory of the holdings in several federal eases, here relied on. Voelker v. Chicago, etc., R. Co. (1902), 116 Fed. 867; The Daniel Ball (1870), 10 Wall. 557, 19 L. Ed. 999; Wabash R. Co. v. United States (1909), 168 Fed. 1, 93 C. C. A. 393; Elgin, etc., R. Co. v. United States (1909), 168 Fed. 1, 93 C. C. A. 393; United States v. Illinois Terminal R. Co. (1909), 168 Fed. 546; Southern R. Co. v. United States (1911), 164 Fed. 347, 222 U. S. 20, 32 Sup. Ct. 2, 56 L. Ed. 72; Second Employers’ Liability Cases (1912), 223 U. S. 1, 32 Sup. Ct. 169, 56 L. Ed. 327; Howard v. Illinois Cent. R. Co. (1908), 207 U. S. 463, 28 Sup. Ct. 141, 52 L. Ed. 297; Johnson v.
From these premises several inquiries inject themselves into the ease. (1) Does the federal act cover the particular subject-matter of our state act as to grabirons or handholds? (2) Does the state statute have a real or substantial relation to interstate commerce? (3) Is it a regulation of, or an interference with, interstate commerce, or does it only affect it indirectly and remotely? (4) Is there an actual conflict between the two acts, or is the state act in aid of the federal act?
Southern R. Co. v. United States, supra; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. United States, supra; United States v. International, etc., R. Co., supra; Wabash R. Co. v. United States, supra; United States v. Wheeling, etc., R. Co., supra; United States v. Illinois Terminal R. Co., supra; United States, ex rel., v. Union Stock Yards, etc., Co., supra; Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Washington, supra; Pacific Coast R. Co. v. United States (1909), 173 Fed. 448, 98 C. C. A. 31;
To our minds the cases of Luken v. Lake Shore, etc., R. Co., supra; Detroit, etc., R. Co. v. State (1910), 82 Ohio St. 60, 91 N. E. 869, 137 Am. St. 758; and New York, etc., R. Co. v. New York, supra, lend little, if any, aid to the solution of the question The force of the first two cases just cited is much impaired, if not overthrown, by the later decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, to the point that
The case of New York, etc., R. Co. v. New York, supra, is grounded on the fact that congress had made no regulation as to heating cars.
As the state act is less broad than the act of congress, we conclude that it cannot be upheld on the ground of being in aid of the latter, and for the same reason cannot be said to affect commerce, except only indirectly and remotely, nor unreasonably because no broader, so that the question finally resolves itself into the proposition, whether a carrier may be punished in both jurisdictions.
In Missouri Pac. R. Co. v. Larabee Flour Mills Co. (1909), 211 U. S. 612, 29 Sup. Ct. 214, 53 L. Ed. 352, the action of the supreme court of Kansas, commanding a railroad company to transfer cars to and from a mill on another railroad, it was said: “The roads are, therefore, engaged in both interstate commerce and that within the State. In the former they are subject to the regulation of Congress; in the latter
In Asbell v. Kansas (1908), 209 U. S. 251, 28 Sup. Ct. 485, 52 L. Ed. 778, 14 Ann. Cas. 1101, which was the case of a state statute making it a misdemeanor to transport cattle into the state without inspection, it was said that while the state may not legislate for the direct control of interstate commerce, a proper police regulation which does not conflict with congressional legislation on the subject involved is not necessarily unconstitutional because it may have an indirect effect upon interstate commerce. Jamieson v. Indiana, etc., Oil Co. (1891), 128 Ind. 581, 28 N. E. 76, 12 L. R. A. 652; Minneapolis, etc., R. Co. v. Emmons, supra; Gulf, etc., R. Co. v. Hefley, supra; Louisville, etc., R. Co. v. Mississippi, supra; Hennington v. Georgia, supra; Missouri, etc., R. Co. v. Haber, supra; Gibbons v. Ogden, supra; McDonald v. State (1886), 81 Ala. 279, 2 South. 830, 60 Am. Rep. 159; New York, etc., R. Co. v. New York, supra; Lake Shore, etc., R. Co. v. Ohio, supra; Peirce v. Van Dusen (1897), 78 Fed. 693, 24 C. C. A. 280, 69 L. R. A. 705; State v. Baltimore, etc., R. Co. (1884), 24 W. Va. 783, 49 Am. Rep. 290; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Fuller (1873), 17 Wall. 560, 569, 21 L. Ed. 710; Smith v. State (1898), 100 Tenn. 494, 499, 46 S. W. 566, 41 L. R. A. 432; Stewart v. Harry (1867), 3 Bush (Ky.) 438.
It was an acknowledged rule in this State until abrogated
We conclude that the section is not invalid, and the judgment is affirmed.
Note.—Reported in 100 N. E. 337. See, also, under (2) 7 Cyc. 446; (3) 7 Cyc. 420; (4) 7 Cyc. 422; (8) 12 Cyc. 137. The authorities on the question of congressional power over commerce are reviewed in notes to cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 6 L. Ed. 23, 678 ; 29 L. Ed. 158; 32 L. Ed. 229; 37 L. Ed. 216; 38 L. Ed. 1041. And upon state regulation of interstate commerce, see note in 29 L. Ed. 158. For a discussion of the state regulation of railroads as an interference with interstate commerce, see note in 7 Ann. Cas. 5; 13 Ann. Cas. 147.