130 Minn. 144 | Minn. | 1915
Defendant, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, a corporation, was indicted by the grand jury of Goodhue county,
The facts are as follows: By section 1 of chapter 97, p. 109, Laws 1907, the legislature of the state enacted that no railroad company, owning or operating a line of railroad within the .state, should after May 1, 1907, charge or collect for carrying any passenger over the age of 12 years on any trip wholly within the state more than two cents per mile; and by section 2, that any railroad company, officer, agent or representative thereof, violating the provisions of section 1, “shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the state prison for a period not exceeding five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.” At the same session the legislature also enacted chapter 232 [p. 313], by which the maximum of certain commodity freight charges was fixed and prescribed, with authority given the 'railroad and warehouse commission to modify the same in particular instances, and declaring a violation of the statute a misdemeanor, and the punishment of any officer or agent of the railroad company so violating the same by imprisonment in the common jail not exceeding 90 days.
The validity of both statutes, with respect to the rates there fixed and prescribed, was challenged in certain stockholders’ suits brought in the Federal court for the district of Minnesota, wherein it was claimed that such rates and charges were unreasonable and confiscatory. The history of that litigation, and the termination thereof, is disclosed by the decisions rendered therein. Minnesota Rate Cases, 230 U. S. 352, 33 Sup. Ct. 729, 57 L. ed. 1511, and Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123, 28 Sup. Ct. 441, 52 L. ed. 714, 13 L.R.A.(N.S.) 932, 14 Ann. Cas. 764. At the time the suits were commenced the Federal court ordered issued temporary injunctions restraining' a compliance with the statutes pending the litigation. The injunctions were directed to the railroad companies,
Under the assignments of error several reasons are urged in support of the contention that the conviction of defendant should be set aside, but we confine our consideration of the case to the ruling of the court in excluding from evidence the writ of injunction. As our conclusion upon that question disposes of the case, the other questions need not be considered or determined.
The power and authority of the legislature, under certain restrictions, to prescribe and regulate, by direct action, or through the
The action to determine the validity of the statute was brought in the Federal court of the district of Minnesota, and by stockholders of the railroad corporation. It could have been brought and maintained in the state court. So far as the questions involved were concerned the Federal and state courts had concurrent jurisdiction. The injunction was issued to hold matters in statu quo, pending the determination of the question whether the rate was unreasonable and confiscatory, an issue inherent in the statute, solely for the court, and beyond the reach of the legislature. It expressly forbade com
But enough has been said. It is clear, within the authorities cited, that the court below erred in excluding the injunction from consideration, for it constituted a complete defense to the prosecution, the injunction being in force at the time of the trial, and imposed upon the state court the duty of protecting defendant from the cross-fire to which it and its agents were exposed. In fact it would seem under the Georgia case, supra, which was not before the learned trial judge, that no conviction can be had for acts done by defendant or its agents pending the litigation in the Federal court, and during the life of the injunction, for, as already stated, the effect of the injunction was to suspend for the time being the operation of the statute.
Some stress was laid in the court below, and to some extent in this court, upon a portion of .the opinion of the Supreme Court in
We therefore hold that the trial court erred in excluding the writ of injunction, and for this reason the conviction must be and is vacated and set aside.
Order reversed.