Morgan Louisiana Co v. Board of Health of the State of Louisiana

• Decision Date: 10 May 1886
• Parties: MORGAN'S LOUISIANA & T. R. & S. S. CO. v. BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA and another. Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

118 U.S. 455

6 S.Ct. 1114

30 L.Ed. 237

MORGAN'S LOUISIANA & T. R. & S. S. CO. v. BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA and another.

Filed May 10, 1886.

This is a writ of error to the supreme court of the state of Louisiana. The plaintiff in error was plaintiff in the state court, and in the court of original jurisdiction obtained an injunction against the board of health prohibiting it from collecting from the plaintiffs the fee of $30, and other fees allowed by act 69 of the legislature of Louisiana of 1882, for the examination which the quarantine laws of the state required in regard to all vessels passing the station. This decree was reversed on appeal by the supreme court of the state, and to this judgment of reversal the present writ of error is prosecuted.

The grounds on which it is sought, in this court, to review the final judgment of the Louisiana court, are thus stated in an amended petition filed in the cause in the court of first instance: 'The amended petition of plaintiffs respectfully represents that all the statutes of the state of Louisiana relied on by defendants for collection of quarantine and fumigation fees are null and void, because they violate the following provisions of the United States constitution: Article first, section 10, paragraph 3, prohibits the states from imposing tonnage duties without the consent of congress. Article first, section 8, paragraph 3, vesting in congress the power to regulate commerce, which power is exclusively so vested. Article first, paragraph 6, section 9, which declares that no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce to the ports of one state over that of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.'

The statute which authorizes the collection of these fees, approved July 1, 1882, is as follows:

'Section 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of Louisiana that the resident physician of the quarantine station on the Mississippi river shall require for every inspection and granting certificate the following fees and charges: For every ship, thirty dollars, ($30;) for every bark, twenty dollars, ($20;) for every brig, ten dollars, ($10;) for every schooner, seven dollars and a half, ($7.50;) for every steam-boat, (tow-boats excepted,) five dollars, ($5;) for every steam-ship, thirty dollars, ($30.)

'Sec. 2. Be it further enacted,' etc., 'that the board of health shall have an especial lien and privilege on the vessels so inspected for the amount of said fees and charges, and may collect the same, if unpaid, by suit before any court of competent jurisdiction, and in aid thereof shall be entitled to the writ of provisional seizure on said vessels.

'Sec. 3. Be it further enacted,' etc., 'that all laws, and parts of laws, in conflict with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed, and all laws, and parts of laws, on the same subject-matter, not in conflict or inconsistent herewith, are continued in full force and effect.'

H. J. Leovy and J. E. McDonald, for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 457-458 intentionally omitted] Wm. M. Evarts, F. C. Zacharie, and Albert Voorhies, for defendants in error.

MILLER, J.

The services for which these fees are to be collected are parts of a system of quarantine, provided by the laws of Louisiana for the protection of the state, and especially of New Orleans, an important commercial city, from infectious and contagious diseases which might be brought there by vessels coming through the Gulf of Mexico from all parts of the world, and up the Mississippi river to New Orleans. This system of quarantine differs in no essential respect from similar systems in operation in all important sea-ports all over the world where commerce and civilization prevail. The distance from the mouth of the Mississippi river to New Orleans is about a hundred miles. A statute of Louisiana of 1855, organizing this system, created a board of health, to whom its administration was mainly confided, and it authorized this board to select and establish a quarantine station on the Mississippi, not less than 75 miles below New Orleans. Money was appropriated to buy land, build hospitals, and furnish other necessary appliances for such an establishment. This and other statutes subsequently passed contained regulations for the examination of vessels ascending the river, and of their passengers, for the purpose of ascertaining the places whence these vessels came, their sanitary condition, and the healthy or diseased condition of their passengers. If any of these were such that the safety of the city of New Orleans or its inhabitants required it as a protection against disease, they could be ordered into quarantine by the proper health officer, until the danger was removed, and, if necessary, the vessel might be ordered to undergo fumigation. If, on this examination, there was no danger to be apprehended from vessel or passengers, a certificate of that fact was given by the examining officer, and she was thereby authorized to proceed and land at her destination. If ordered to quarantine, after such detention and cleansing process as the quarantine authorities required, she was given a similar certificate, and proceeded on her way. If the condition of any of the passengers was such that they could not be permitted to enter the city, they might be ordered into quarantine, while the vessel proceeded without them. Whether these precautions were judicious or not this court cannot inquire. They are a part of and inherent in every system of quarantine.

If there is a city in the United States which has need of qurantine laws it is New Orleans. Although situated over a hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico, it is the largest city which partakes of its commerce, and more vessels of every character come to and depart from it than any city connected with that commerce. Partaking, as it does, of the liability to diseases of warm climates, and in the same danger of all other sea-ports of cholera and other contagious and infectious disorders, these are sources of anxiety to its inhabitants, and to all the interior population of the country who may be affected by their spread among them. Whatever may be the truth with regard to the contagious character of yellow fever and cholera, there can be no doubt of the general belief, and very little of the fact, that all the invasions of these epidemics in the great valley of the Mississippi river and its tributaries in times past have been supposed to have spread from New Orleans, and to have been carried by steam-boats and other vessels engaged in commerce with that city. And the origin of these diseases is almost invariably attributed to vessels ascending the Mississippi river from the West Indies and South America, where yellow fever is epidemic almost every year, and from European countries, whence our invasions of cholera uniformly come.

If there is any merit or success in guarding against these diseases by modes of exclusion, of which the professional opinion of medical men in America is becoming more convinced of late years, the situation of the city of New Orleans for rendering this exclusion effective is one which invites in the strongest manner the effort. Though a sea-port in fact, it is situated a hundred miles from the sea, and is only to be reached by vessels from foreign countries by this approach. A quarantine station, located as this one is under the Louisiana laws, with vigilant officers, can make sure of inspecting every vessel which comes to New Orleans from the great ocean in any direction. Safe and ample arrangements can be made for care and treatment of diseased passengers, and for the comfort of their companions, as well as the cleansing and disinfecting of the vessels. The system of quarantine has here, therefore, as fair a trial of its efficacy as it could have anywhere, and the need of it is as great.

None of these facts are denied; in all that is important to the present inquiry they cannot be denied. Nor is it denied that the enactment of quarantine laws is within the province of the states of this Union. Of all the elements of this quarantine system of the state of Louisiana, the only feature which is assailed as unconstitutional is that which requires that the vessels which are examined at the quarantine station, with respect to their sanitary condition and that of their passengers, shall pay the compensation which the law fixes for this service. This compensation is called a 'tonnage tax,' forbidden by the constitution of the United States; a regulation of commerce exclusively within the power of congress; and also a regulation which gives a preference to the port of New Orleans over ports of other states.

These are grave allegations with regard to the exercise of a power which, in all countries and in all the ports of the United States, has been considered to be a part of and incident to the power to establish quarantine. We must examine into this proposition, and see if anything in the constitution sustains it. Is this requirement that each vessel shall pay the officer who examines it a fixed compensation for that service, a 'tax?' A 'tax' is defined to be 'a contribution imposed by government on individuals, for the service of the state.' It is argued that a part of these fees goes into the treasury of the state or of the city, and it is therefore levied as part of the revenue of the state or city, and for that purpose. But an examination of the statute shows that the excess of the fees of this officer over his salary is paid into the city treasury to constitute a fund wholly devoted to quarantine expenses, and that no part of it ever goes to defray the expenses of the state or city goverment.

That the vessel itself has the primary and deepest interest in this examination it is easy to see. It is obviously to her interest, in the pursuit of her business, that...