Erie Railroad Company v. People of the State of New York

Citation34 S.Ct. 756,58 L.Ed. 1149,233 U.S. 671
Decision Date25 May 1914
Docket NumberNo. 266,266
PartiesERIE RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Messrs. Frederic D. McKenney and George F. Brownell for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Wilber W. Chambers, Claude T. Dawes, and Mr. Thomas Carmody, Attorney General of New York, for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 672-675 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

Action for penalty, brought by the people of the state of New York against defendant in error, herein called the railroad company, for an alleged violation of the labor law of the state, entitled, 'An Act in Relation to Labor, Constituting Chapter Thirty-two of the General Laws,' as amended by chapter 627 of the Laws of 1907.

'Section 1. Chapter 415 of the laws of 1897, entitled, 'An Act in Relation to Labor, Constituting Chapter Thirty-two of the General Laws,' is hereby amended by adding a new section after § 7 thereof, to be § 7a, to read as follows:

'Section 7a. Regulation of hours of labor of block-system telegraph and telephone operators and signalmen on surface, subway, and elevated railroads.—The provisions of § 7 of this chapter shall not be applicable to employees mentioned therein. It shall be unlawful for any corporation or receiver, operating a line of railroad, either surface, subway, or elevated, in whole or in part, in the state of New York, or any officer, agent, or representative of such corporation or receiver to require or permit any telegraph or telephone operator who spaces trains by the use of the telegraph or telephone under what is known and termed the 'block system' (defined as follows): Reporting trains to another office or offices or to a train despatcher operating one or more trains under signals, and telegraph or telephone levermen who manipulate interlocking machines in railroad yards or on main tracks out on the lines, or train despatchers in its service whose duties substantially, as hereinbefore set forth, pertain to the movement of cars, engines, or trains on its railroad by the use of the telegraph or telephone in despatching or reporting trains or receiving or transmitting train orders as interpreted in this section, to be on duty for more than eight hours in a day of twenty-four hours, and it is hereby declared that eight hours shall constitute a day of employment for all laborers or employees engaged in the kind of labor aforesaid; except in cases of extraordinary emergency caused by accident, fire, flood, or danger to life or property, and for each hour of labor so performed in any one day in excess of such eight hours, by any such employee, he shall be paid in addition at least one eighth of his daily compensation. Any person or persons, company or corporation, who shall violate any of the provisions of this section, shall, on conviction, be fined in the sum not less than $100, and such fine shall be recovered by an action in the name of the state of New York, for the use of the state, which shall sue for it against such person, corporation, or association violating this act, said suit to be instituted in any court in this state having appropriate jurisdiction. Such fine, when recovered as aforesaid, shall be paid without any deduction whatever, one half thereof to the informer, and the balance thereof to be paid into the free school fund of the state of New York. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any part of a railroad where not more than eight regular passenger trains in twenty-four hours pass each way; provided, moreover, that where twenty freight trains pass each way generally in each twenty-four hours, then the provisions of this act shall apply, notwithstanding that there may pass a less number of passenger trains than hereinbefore set forth, namely, eight.

'Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1st. 1907.'

It is alleged that at the times hereinafter mentioned the railroad company was a corporation under the laws of the state of New York, and was and is operating a line of railroad in the state of New York, in Rockland county and other counties, extending from Piermont to Dunkirk, both in that state.

The following facts are also alleged: The railroad company, in violation of § 7a of the labor law, required and permitted one David Henion, a telegraph operator, to be on duty more than eight hours, that is, from 7 o'clock, A. M. to 7 o'clock, P. M., on the 1st day of November, 1907, in the railroad company's tower at Sterlington, in the county of Rockland, New York, there being no extraordinary emergency caused by accident, fire, flood, or danger to life or property.

His duty was to space trains by the use of the telegraph under what is known and termed the 'block system,' and to report trains to another office or offices and to train despatchers, whose duties pertain to the movement of cars, engines, and trains on the company's railroad, by the use of the telegraph.

There passed over the tracks of the railroad company on the day named more than eight regular passenger trains each way.

Judgment is prayed in the sum of $100.

The answer of the railroad company admits its incorporation and that it is operating a railroad as alleged, but alleges that its road extends from Jersey City, New Jersey, to Suffern, New York, and from Salamanca, New York, to Marion, state of Ohio, and elsewhere, passing through New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and that at all times mentioned in the complaint it was and is now engaged in interstate commerce and the transportation of persons, goods, and merchandise by railroad from one state of the United States to other states of the United States, and to foreign countries.

It admits that the company required and permitted Henion to work as charged, but alleges that the cars, engines, and trains that he was engaged in spacing and reporting were engaged in interstate commerce.

That the labor law of the state violates the 5th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as applied to Henion and other employees in the same class of work, in that it deprives both the railroad company and Henion of the liberty of contract and of property without due process of law, and of the equal protection of the laws.

The answer also set up in defense the Federal 'hours of service' act approved March 4, 1907, in force one year after its passage (34 Stat. at L. 1415, chap. 2939, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1911, p. 1321), entitled, 'An Act to Promote the Safety of Employees and Travelers upon Railroads by Limiting the Hours of Service of Employees Thereon.'

The law, among other things, authorizes the employment of employees such as Henion was, for nine hours in twenty-four-hour periods when employed night and day, and for thirteen hours when employed only during the daytime, and, in case of extraordinary emergency, to be on duty for four additional hours in such period on not exceeding three days in any week.

'Sec. 2. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier, its officers or agents, subject to this act, to require or permit any employee subject to this act to be or remain on duty for a longer period than sixteen consecutive hours. . . .

'Provided, That no operator, train despatcher, or other employee who, by the use of the telegraph or telephone, despatches, reports, transmits, receives, or delivers orders pertaining to or affecting train movements, shall be required or permitted to be or remain on duty for a longer period than nine hours in any twenty-four-hour period in all towers, offices, places, and stations continuously operated night and day, nor for a longer period than thirteen hours in all towers, offices, places, and stations operated only during the daytime, except in case of emergency, when the employees named in this proviso may be permitted to be and remain on duty for four additional hours in a twenty-four-hour period on not exceeding three days in any week; . . .'

The answer also alleges that the jurisdiction of Congress is exclusive, and that the labor law of 1907 is in excess of the power of the legislature of the state of New York and unconstitutional and void, in that it is an attempt to regulate commerce between the states.

A jury was waived and the case tried by the court, which found the facts as alleged in the complaint, and that upon the trains which passed the tower at Sterlington there 'were passengers whose journey commenced and ended in the state of New York, and did not extend into any other state, and some of said trains carrying passengers and property from one point to another in the state of New York.'

As a conclusion of law the court found that the railroad company violated the law, had incurred a penalty of $100 by so doing, and that § 7a of the law 'is valid and its provisions do not violate and are not in conflict with the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the state of New York.'

Upon the request of the railroad company the court also found the facts of the interstate character of the railroad as alleged in the answer, and that Henion was employed as alleged, and found a number of other facts concerning the manner of operating the 'block system' and the duties of Henion. There were also findings relative to the labor law, the penal law, so called, and the act of Congress of March 4, 1907. The findings only serve to emphasize the defenses of the company, and need not be set out at length.

The court also made the following findings:

'That at all times mentioned in...

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