Jones v. Brim, 621

• Citation: 41 L.Ed. 677,165 U.S. 180,17 S.Ct. 282
• Decision Date: 01 February 1897
• Docket Number: No. 621,621
• Parties: JONES v. BRIM
• Court: United States Supreme Court

165 U.S. 180

17 S.Ct. 282

41 L.Ed. 677

JONES

v BRIM.

No. 621.

February 1, 1897.

This action was originally instituted in June, 1893, before a justice of the peace in the then territory of Utah, to recover the sum of $10 for damages alleged to have resulted from destroying the banks on the side of, and from rolling rocks into and upon, a public highway situated on a hillside, caused by a band of sheep owned by the defendant, while being driven upon such highway.

The supreme court of the territory, on review of the judgment of a district court in favor of the defendant, held that the statute upon which the cause of action was founded was valid, adjudged that the petition stated a cause of action, and remanded the cause to the district court. 11 Utah, 200, 39 Pac. 825. Subsequently the supreme court of the state affirmed a judgment of the district court, which had been entered for the amount claimed. The defendant sued out this writ of error.

F. S. Richards, for plaintiff in error.

P. L. Williams, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice WHITE, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

The sole question presented for our consideration is whether section 2087 of the Compiled Laws of Utah (volume 1, p. 743) is in conflict with the constitution of the United States. The section reads as follows:

'Sec. 2087. Any person who drives a herd of horses, mules, asses, cattle, sheep, goats or swine over a public highway, where such highway is constructed on a hillside, shall be liable for all damage done by such animals in destroying the banks or rolling rocks into or upon such highway.'

Plaintiff in error claims that the law in question deprives the class of persons mentioned in it of their property without due process of law, and denies to them the equal protection of the laws, and that, consequently, its provisions contravene that portion of the first section of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, which provides that 'no state shall 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.' The denial of the equal protection of the laws is asserted to consist in an unjust and illegal discrimination against persons who 'drive herds of horses, mules, asses, cattle, sheep, goats or swine over a public highway, where such highway is constructed on a hillside,' by making them liable for damage done by them in using the highway, while all other persons are permitted to use it without liability.

We premise that the clause of the fourteenth amendment of the constitution referred to was undoubtedly intended to prohibit an arbitrary deprivation of life or liberty, or arbitrary spoliation of property. Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S. 53, 5 Sup. Ct. 371. But it does not limit, nor was it designed to limit, the subjects upon which the police power of a state may be lawfully exerted. Railway Co. v. Beckwith, 129 U. S. 29, 9 Sup. Ct. 207. Embraced within the police powers of a state is the establishment, maintenance, and control of public highways. New Orleans Gaslight Co. v. Louisiana Light & Heat Producing & Manuf'g Co., 115 U. S. 661, 6 Sup. Ct. 252. The legislation in question would clearly seem, therefore, to come within the narrowest definition of the police power, and be properly classed...