and to regulate accounting practices. It includes provisions giving commissions the right of access to, and inspection of, the books and records of utilities only insofar as these rights are granted strictly for the purpose of regulating accounts. Chapter X, on Reports, includes grants of power authorizing commissions to require formal reports and elicit general information from utilities, and such provisions as impose upon commissions the duty of submitting to designated authorities reports of their own proceedings and of the business and management of utilities. Provisions prescribing the filing of reports by utilities with other bodies or officers than commissions or commissioners have been excluded. The next three chapters deal with capitalization and competition. Chapter XI, on Franchises, includes grants of power authorizing commissions to regulate competition between utilities by requiring certificates of convenience and necessity to be issued by commissions as a condition precedent to the acquisition of new franchise privileges or to the exercise of franchise privileges previously granted. It also includes the Wisconsin law on indeterminate franchises. Chapter XII, on Stock and Bond Issues, includes grants of power authorizing commissions to regulate the capitalization of utilities. Chapter XIII, on Intercorporate Relations, includes grants of power authorizing commissions to supervise the relations of utilities between themselves with regard to finance and organization. Two chapters on procedure and enforcement complete the compilation and analysis of laws. Chapter XIV, on Commission Procedure and Practice, includes provisions prescribing the general procedure to be observed by commissions in the performance of their duties and the conduct of their proceedings, and such grants of power as authorize commissions to render these requirements effective. Provisions involving special procedure incident to the exercise of particular powers have not been repeated here. Chapter XV, on Enforcement, includes grants of power authorizing commissions to invoke judicial process for the enforcement of their orders and prescribing penalties for their violation, and such provisions as indicate the degree of validity to be attached to orders of commissions and as prescribe the procedure and legal effect of review of such orders by judicial tribunals. Provisions involving special enforcement machinery incident to the exercise by commissions of particular powers have been here excluded.

Jurisdiction and Definitions. The preliminary chapter on Jurisdiction of Commissions and Definitions is not incorporated in the body of the text of the compilation and analysis of laws for the reason that it contains itself no substantive provisions but in the last analy

sis is an interpretative guide to an understanding of all of the substantive provisions throughout the text. The material incorporated in this chapter was selected with care, the purpose being to gather together only the jurisdictional statements and the definitions which had an important bearing on the text. Many definitions of a distinctly local application from the standpoint of the statutes in which they are found are localized in the text by being attached by footnote to the substantive provisions which they explain or modify. The definitions in this chapter are mainly definitions of general application to entire statutes. The combined statements of jurisdiction and definitions present concrete pictures of the status of legislation in each jurisdiction.

Scope Notes. The statutory material regulating utilities is an indivisible whole. Moreover, much of American legislation is passed in a form so haphazard and unsystematic as to present serious difficulties in any attempt at logical analysis and separation into elements. So any division of the material may appear in some respects arbitrary and necessarily involves considerable overlapping of provisions. To meet the situation in this work, each of the 15 chapters is headed by a note which aims to indicate the general scope of that chapter and its relation to every other chapter which contains similar or allied material. These scope notes, therefore, should make clear in each case the basis of the general analysis, and locate by means of their references such provisions as have been omitted from their proper chapters because they are incidental to material which belongs elsewhere.

Analysis of Chapters into Minor Divisions. To analyze each chapter into minor divisions and retain at the same time the statutory language and form of the material presents, of course, a much more difficult task than the analysis into chapters. The statutes cannot be dismembered physically in every case without clouding or destroying the meaning of many provisions by a loss of context. Moreover, the analysis of a law into the comparatively small elements represented by the divisions and subdivisions of chapters very often involves important questions of statutory construction on the part of the investigator. Furthermore, the physical separation of legislative provisions into their elements, if carried out in every case, would involve so much repetition of material and would result in so large an addition to the bulk of the compilation and analysis as to detract appreciably from the usefulness of the work. To meet these difficulties, the material has been broken up physically only into its natural divisions; that is, each provision has been placed under the

division or subdivision where it primarily belongs, although it may have involved incidental material which would logically belong elsewhere. In other words, no attempt has been made to dismember the material physically to such an extent as to include under each of the minor divisions every provision dealing with a given subject, no matter how inextricably incorporated in other material. It is believed that this method of handling the legislative provisions presents a more accurate picture of the statutory situation than otherwise could be attained; for while it presents a logical analysis of the subject matter of the statutes, it involves the least amount of tampering with the material as enacted by the various legislatures and the least amount of extra-judicial interpretation of its meaning.

Cross References. In order to make up for the apparent incompleteness resulting from the method of analysis just outlined, a system of cross referencing has been adopted, whereby under each jurisdiction in each division and subdivision references are made to any similar provisions appearing in any other part of the compilation and analysis. Such material, therefore, as does not seem to appear in its proper place because it could not be extracted physically from the provisions with which it is displayed is thus incorporated by reference. By the actual presentation of provisions or by means of cross references there are complete listings under each of the topics into which the chapters have been analyzed.

Index of Sections. A complete index of constitutional and statutory provisions is attached to the compilation and analysis of laws. This index shows, section by section, the paragraph of the text in which every provision that has been used of any constitution or statute may be found. This index has a twofold value: First it enables the user of the volume to ascertain what laws of a particular jurisdiction have been used; second, it enables one to find at a glance material from other jurisdictions analogous to a particular section in which he is interested.

Subject Index. Another drawback arising from the fact that the statutory material cannot be physically dismembered into small elements without doing violence to the laws as they appear on the statute books is that the analysis could not be carried as far as would be of the greatest advantage to the various classes in the hands of which this work is likely to find itself. The compilation and analysis has been supplemented, therefore, by a carefully prepared analytical index based upon the subject matter of the material. By means of this index the legislator, utility manager, student or publicist can

pursue his jurisdictional comparisons even with regard to the minute elements of commission regulation.

Addenda. A limited amount of material came to hand after the body of the text was fixed by the numbering of the paragraphs and the completion of indices. Some of this material was inserted in the text by means of footnotes to associated material. Other sections were placed in an addendum, numbered serially with the sections of the body of the text, and incorporated in the body by cross-references. In some instances material was found to have been included which might have been omitted but for the fixing of the text by the numbering of the paragraphs. This material was not disturbed.

Conclusion. Within clearly defined limits, then, this compilation and analysis of laws aims to present a complete and accurate picture of the statutory situation with regard to commission regulation of public utilities. In addition, much effort has been expended to make the work practically useful. If the labor and devotion involved in its preparation will make even the smallest contribution towards a better understanding of the increasingly vital relations between the public and the public service industries all who have participated in the work will feel amply repaid.

JURISDICTION OF COMMISSIONS

AND DEFINITIONS

SCOPE NOTE

This chapter includes references in the language of the statutes to the utilities which can be reached by commissions, however great or small the extent of the commission authority, and a list of such definitions as indicate the scope of the utilities in particular jurisdictions. For provisions authorizing commissions to regulate allied businesses or dealing with the territorial jurisdiction of commissions, see ch. ii, on general powers of commissions. For general statement of scope and method, see introduction.