CHAPTER I.

Constitutional Provisions, Involving Commercial Questions and Personal and Private Rights.

In construing Federal statutes, designed to regulate interstate commerce, the courts must pass upon questions involving the limitation and extent of the powers delegated to Congress by the Constitution of the United States, and the powers which remain in the States or in the people, which were never delegated to the Federal government. These non-delegated powers embrace the right of a State to exercise its police power and to tax all property within its borders. They embrace the power to regulate domestic commerce or commerce conducted wholly within the State; the right of every citizen to trial by jury, as defined in the Federal Constitution; the right of a witness to be protected against self-incriminating testimony; the prohibition against the taking of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and the right of every citizen to the equal protection of the laws, and to maintain the inviolability and integrity of every contract. Congress, in the exercise of the powers delegated to it, must frame its legislation so as not to impinge upon those powers remaining in the States, and so as not to deny or abridge the constitutional rights of any citizen.

A State has no power to legislate directly with respect to interstate commerce. Congress has no power to legislate with respect to domestic commerce. A

State cannot impose a tax upon interstate commerce. In the exercise of its power to tax, a State may tax, not only tangible property, but it may tax franchises conferred by it upon corporations of its own creation, notwithstanding the fact that such corporations may be engaged in interstate commerce. To what extent does this power extend when used to impose a tax upon tangible property employed as the means or instrumentalities of such commerce. To what extent may Congress legislate to raise revenue by imposing direct taxes which legislation impairs or diminishes the rights of the States to secure income from such source.

When commerce ceases to be domestic and becomes interstate, the power of the State to regulate or restrain it ceases and the power of the Federal government attaches. The statutes and local law of a State, with respect to domestic commerce, is supreme. An act of Congress, with respect to interstate commerce, is supreme. At what point and under what circumstances does State sovereignty cease and Federal authority begin.

Similar questions arise when an act of Congress is challenged upon the ground, either that it encroaches upon the police powers, which remain subject exclusively to the sovereignty of the State, or that it operates to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denies to any person the equal protection of the laws, or to the right to trial by jury, or compels a person to be a witness against himself, or impairs the obligation of a contract.

The chief constitutional provisions defining the powers delegated to the Federal government, and those reserved expressly to the States and which guarantee the rights of the citizen, are as follows:

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS.

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Taxes. No capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. Art. I, § 9.

Representatives, and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. Art. 1, § 2, as amended by amendment XIV, clause 2.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States. Art. I, § 8.

Commerce.- To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States. Ib.

Post Roads. To establish post-offices and post roads.

Ib.

To Legislate. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. Ib.

No State Duty.- No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. Art. I, § 9.

Privileges; Immunities. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. Art. IV, § 2.

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Congress Supreme.- This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. Art. VI.

Seizure and Search. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. Amendment IV.

Witness against Himself.- No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. Amendment V.

Jury Trial. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved. Amendment VII.

Powers Reserved. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Amendment X.

Due Process of Law.- No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Amendment XIV.

The courts have construed these provisions of the organic law in connection with the various acts of Congress relating to interstate commerce and State legislation with regard to domestic commerce. Decisions bearing directly upon the statute will be found under the appropriate section of the act under which the discussion arose. Decisions which relate generally to the powers of Congress or the States, affecting commercial questions, and which do not relate to any particular clause of a Federal or State statute involving the power to regulate commerce, are, for convenience, grouped in this chapter.

The Police Power. The people in framing the Federal Constitution did not delegate to Congress power to regulate the internal policy of a State, with respect to public health, public morals, or public order, within its borders. The power of the State to legislate as it sees

fit, in regard to these matters, is supreme. This power cannot be impaired or diminished by an act of Congress, even though its exercise may operate indirectly upon, or incidentally affect, interstate commerce. This rule is illustrated by the following authorities:

Police Power-State Legislation - Prohibiting Sale of Game and Fish. A State may in the exercise of its police power prohibit the sale of trout within its borders, although such trout were lawfully caught in another State. A law making it a penal offense for a person to have such trout in his possession for sale is valid and not an unlawful interference with interstate commerce. In re Deininger, 108 Fed. Rep. 623 (April, 1901, C. C. Ore.); Geer v. Connecticut, 161 U. S. 519, followed.

Petitioner, who was convicted under the Oregon statute, applied for writ of habeas corpus and an order directing the sheriff to show cause why the writ should not be granted. Petitioner was manager of Cholpeck Fishing Co. at Portland, Ore., where it conducted a retail fish market. Trout were purchased in Seattle, Wash., where they were lawfully caught and shipped to petitioner to sell. Petitioner contended that the Oregon statute making possession of trout for sale, lawfully caught in another State, a penal offense, was invalid, as being in restraint of interstate commerce. The court denied the petition, and held that game brought from one State into another the moment it reaches the State of its destination, becomes part of the property within its borders, and subject to the control of the State in the exercise of its police powers, and that the statute complained of was a lawful exercise of such police power and was valid, and not an infringe