Page:Henry Osborn Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations (5th ed, 1905).djvu/489

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

CHAP. VIII.] CORPORATION AND STATE. [§ 475 - far as regards this clause, a state may constitutionally pre- scribe a maximum charge for the transportation of passengers and merchandise carried within the state, or taken up outside the state and brought into it, or taken up inside and carried out — at least until Congress legislates concerning interstate commerce. 1 § 475. Turning now to a consideration of the restrictions placed on the police power by the requirements of police o ^ er justice, it may be remarked that the term " police its limits. power " is not well chosen, as the power in question wE^L" 1 extends some what beyond the scope of what are J^^Jf e ^S. ordinarily regarded as police regulations. 2 The limits of this power are necessarily undefinable, as, in 1 Peik v. Chicago, etc., Ry. Co., 94 U. S. 164; Chicago, etc., R. R. Co. v. Iowa, 94 U. S. 155; People v. Wabash, etc., Ry. Co., 104 111. 476; S. C, 105 111. 236. But see Carton & Co. v. Illinois Cent. R. R. Co., 59 Iowa, 148. But a state statute regulating rail- road charges for a transportation which constitutes a part of commerce among the states is void. Wabash, St. L. & P. Ry. Co. v. Illinois, 118 U. S. 557; Railway Co. v. Hefley, 158 U. S. 98; L. & N. R. R. Co. o. Eu- bank, 184 U. S. 27. A state statute compelling railroad companies to stop their trains at county seats, con- strued by the state court to include fast interstate passenger and mail trains, is void. Illinois C. R. R. ». Illinois, 163 U. S. 142. But such a statute applying only to regular passenger trains running wholly within the state, is a valid exei'cise of the state's police power. Gladson v. Minnesota, 166 U. S. 427. And it is held that a statute requiring every railroad to stop three trains a day, if so many are run, at places having 3,000 inhabitants, is not repugnant to the Federal Constitution, as ap- plied to interstate trains, in the absence of legislation by Congress. Lake Shore & M. S. Ry. Co. v. Ohio, 173 U. S. 285. But a state statute requiring all trains to stop a certain length of time at county seats was held invalid, as applied to a through express train, when four trains a day stopped. Cleveland, C. C. & St. L. R'y Co. ». Illinois, 177 U. S. 514. A statute requiring two railroads to provide at their intersection facili- ties for transferring cars, is not a regulation of interstate commerce. Wisconsin, M. & P. R. R. Co. v. Jacobson, 179 U. S. 287. Congress has now passed an " Interstate Com- merce Bill." As to its construction see Inter-State Commerce Com'rs v. Baltimore, etc., R. R. Co., 145 U. S. 263 ; Charlotte, etc., R. R. Co. v. Gibbes, 142 U. S. 386; New York v. Squire, 145 U. S. 175; Cincinnati, etc., Ry. v. Inter. Com. Com., 162 U. S. 184; Texas & Pac. Ry. v. Same, ib. 197; Inter. Com. Com. v. Railway, 2 "Police is in general a system of precaution for the prevention of crimes and calamities." J. Ben- tham, Edinburgh Ed. of Works, part ix. p. 157; quoted in Kansas Pacific Ry. Co. v. Mower, 16 Kan. 571. 469