UNITED STATES V. BOSTON .. A. B. CO.
209
UNITED STATES V. BOSTON SAME
& A. R. CO.
v.
FITOHBU:aG
R. CO. February 16, 1888.)
(Diltrict (JOttrt, D. Ma88lJchtt8ett8. 1.
CARRIERS OF LIVE-SToCK-CONSTRUCTION Oll' STATUTES·
.By the provisions of the Revised Statutes of the United I:Hates, §§ 4386, 4390, no common carrier of cattle, sheep, swine, or other animals, conyeying the same from one state to another, shall confine the same in cars, boats, or vessels for a longer time than 28 consecutive hours, without unloading the same for' rest, water, and feeding for a period of at least five consecutive hours. Section 4387 gives to those who give such care a ,lien on the animals for. the expenses incurred, and relie,es them from liailility for the detention. Section 4388 fixes the penalty for violating lIuch statute at not less than $100 nor more than $500. Sections 4389 and 4390 provide that the penalty may be recovered by civil action in the name' of the United States in the circuit and district courts, and that the lien given by section 4387 may be enforced by petition in the district court. Authority for this legislation is found in that clause of the c6nRtitution which confers upon congress the power to regulate commerce among the several states.
2.
SAME-CoNSTITUTIONALITY ,OF STATUTE.
3.
SAME-PENALTY FOR VIOLATIoN.
,
The. penalty imposed by section 4388 is not less than $100 nor more than $500, where more than one animal is carried and confined in violation of the statute. The statute cannot be so construed as to make the unlawful confinement of each animal constitute a separate offense, and thull multiply the penalty by the whole number of animals.
On Demurrer. A.E. Pillsbury, for plaintiff. A. L. Soule, fOr Boston & A. R. Co. W. S. Stearns, for Fitchburg R. Co. NELSON, J. These cases are actions against railroad companies to recover penalties incurred under Rev. St. §§ The answer in each case contains a demurrer to the plaintiff's declaration. Section 4386 reads as follows: .. No railroad company within the United States, whose road forms any part of a line of road over which cattle. sheep, swine, or other animals are conveyed from one state to another, or the owners or masters of steam, sailing, or other vessels carryingortraasporting cattle, sheep, swine, or other animals from one state to another, shall confine the same in cars, bOllts. or vessels of any description for a longer period than 28 consecutive hours, w.ithout unloading the same for rest, water, and feeding for a period of at least live consecutive hours, unless prevented from so unloading by storm or other accidertal causes. III Elstimating such confinement the time dUling which the animals
v.15,no.3-14
210.:
. FEDERAL REPORTER.
}lave been confined without such rest on connecting roads from which they are received shall be included, it of this section to prohibit their continuous confinement beyond the period of 28 hours,except upon contingencies hereinbefore stated."
Section 4387 makes it the duty of the owner or custodian, or in case of their default of the railroad company, or owners or masters of boats and vessels, to properly feed and water the animals when unloaded; gives to the latter a lien on the animals for the expense 80 incurred; and relieves them from' liability for the detention: Section 4388. Any company. owner, or custodian of such animals, who knowingly and willingly fails to comply with the provisions of thE' two preceding sections, shall, for every such failure, be liable for and forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $500. But when animals are carried in cars, boats. or other vessels in which they can and do have proper food, water, space, and opportunity to rest, the provisions in regard to their being unloaded shall not apply.
Sections 4389 and 4390 provide th'at the penalty may be recovered by civil action, in the name <if the United States, in the circuit and district courts, aud that the lien given by section 4387 may be enforced by petition in the district court. In the .first case the declaratioJl allElges that the.. Defendant's road fOrms paft of a line of road over which cattle, sheep; and 8wineareconveyedfrom one state to another. to-wit, from the state of New York to the state of Massachusetts j" that in July, 1882, the" defendant, being engaged in conveying 1,380 sheep over its said road from Albany, in the state of New York, to Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, did knowingly and willfully confine said sheep, and each and everyone thereof, in cars upon its said 170ad, without unloading the same for rest, water,and feeding for the period of, five hours, in any period, for and during a longer period than 28 consecutive honrs. to-wit, for 41 consecutive inclusive of the time during which animals had been so confined without such rest on a connecting rOlid, to\vit, the New York Centl-al & Hudson River Railroad, from which said defendant re<i"efved the same; that said defendant or said connecting road was not prevented: from so: unloading said animals or any thereof by storm or ·,)ther accidental cause, and that said animals were not then and there carried by the defendant, or by said connecting road, in cars or other conveyance in which they could and did have proper food,' water, space, and opportunity to rest" . .
The penalty demanded is "$100 for each of said'animals,to-wit, the sum of $10,000.'" , In the second case the 'declaration is similar in substance, and al· leges that' the:':"": . <.
" Defendan,t's road forms part of a line of road over which cattle, sheep, and swine are conveJ'cd from one state to another, to-wit, from the, state of Ver-
UNITED STATES V.BOSTON& A. R. 00.
211,
mont to the state of and that,in JUly, 1882. the defendant "being engaged in carrying 1,875 swine over its said road from Winchendon to Cambridge. in said state of Massachusetts, in t,he course and as a part of the transportation of said swine fro,m points in the l;>ominion of Canada into and through said state of Vermont, and thence into and through said state of Massach'usetts to said Cambridge, did knowingly and willfully," etc.
The penalty demanded is "$100 for eaoh of said animals, to-wit, the sum of $10,000." 1. The first gronnd of demurrer stated is that the statute on which the declaration is based is unconstitutional and v.oid. Authority for this legislation is found in that clause of the constitutv>ll which confers upon congress the power to regulate oommerce among the several states. In congress alone, under the constitution, is this authority vested. No state is to make regulations of this character, )tnd, until congress exercises its authority upon the subject, transportation of merchandise from one state to another is free. All this is settled beyond controversy by a long line of decisions of the supreme court. v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; Welton v. Missouri, 91U. S. 275; v.Alling, 93 U. S. 99; Railroad Co. v. HUfJcn, 95 U. S. 465; Pensacola Tel. Co. v. West. U. TeL Co. 96 U. Ii. 1; Telegraph Go. v. Texas, 105 U.S. 460; Bridge (Jo. v. U. S. 105 U. S. 470; Sweatt v. Railroad Co. 3 Cliff. 339. The'iitatute in question is directly within the,terms of this clause of the constitution. It imposes regulations upon a particular class of traffic between states, and declares in what manner and upon -what conditions it shall be carried on., The statute cannot be any the less within the constitutional authority of eongress.because its object is to' require the humane treatment of live animals when in course of transportation as articles of commerce from one state to another. A railroad company in this state, whose road forms part of a line of road over which live animals are' conveyed from another state to points in this state, and which reoeives from its connecting roads to be transported in this state animals which have been brought from,anotherstate, is engaged in interstate commerce, and as such is within the terms of the aot' of oongress. 2. The second ground of demurrer is that the penalty sued for is not the penalty imposed by the statute. Thisniust be sustained. The ,confinement of the entire number of animals for a longer period than' 28' conseoutive h6urs, withOut unloading for rest, water, 'and feeding, is a single offense, for which the defendants are made liable to the penalty. By no fair of the
,212
ODUAL BEPORTElL
llnlawful confinement of each animal be held to constitute a separate offense, and thus the penalty be multiplied by the whole number of animals carried. The statute fixes the penalty at "not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars." Within these limits the amount of the penalty is to be determined by the court, after verdict for the plaintiff. The plaintiff can only sue for the penalty prescribed by the statute. The demurrers are overruled on the first ground and sustained on the second. The plaintiff is to have 10 days within which amend its declaration in each case. Ordered accordingly·
'0
· B!RTB.Ur
and others v.
ROBERTSON.-
(Oz'rc'Uit U01J,rl,8. D. NtfIIJ York.) TEJIlATY-STIPULATIONS CoNSTRtJED.
The stipulation in a treaty with a foreign power, to the effect that no hIgher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominion of the treaty-making power, - .. - than are or shall be payable on the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country, Mld, not to prevent CODgress from passing an act exempting from duty like products and manufacturee Imported from any particular foreign dominion it may see fit.
Dunning, Edsall, Hart d; Fowler, for plaintiffs. Thos. H. Edsall, of counsel. Stewart L. Woodford, U. 8. Atty., for defendant. R. H. Worthing. ton, of counsel. WALLACE, J .. The demurrer to the complaint presents the question whether the plaintiffs. are ent,itled to recover. duties alleged to have been illegally exacted by the defendant, as collector of port of' New York, upon the .following facts: The plaintiffs, in March and April, 1882, imported ae.Teral invoices of sugars and molasses, which were the produce and manufacture of theisland of St. Croix, a part of the dominions of the king of Denmark, upon which the defendant exacted and {.lollected duties at the .rates imposed on sugars and molasses by the act of congress of July 14, 1870, as amended. by the acts of December 22, 1810, and March 8, 1875. These acts pre· scribe th duty to be collected upon all sugars and molasses of des· ignated grades. *Affirmed; See 7 Sup. Rep. 1113.