City of Sault Ste Marie v. International Transit Company

• Decision Date: 08 June 1914
• Docket Number: No. 323,323
• Citation: 34 S.Ct. 826,234 U.S. 333,58 L.Ed. 1337
• Parties: CITY OF SAULT STE. MARIE, Andrew J. Short, Mayor, et al., Appts., v. INTERNATIONAL TRANSIT COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

234 U.S. 333

34 S.Ct. 826

58 L.Ed. 1337

CITY OF SAULT STE. MARIE, Andrew J. Short, Mayor, et al., Appts.,

v INTERNATIONAL TRANSIT COMPANY.

No. 323.

Argued March 20, 1914.

Decided June 8, 1914.

Messrs. John W. Shine and F. T. McDonald for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 334-337 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Henry E. Bodman, Alexis C. Angell, Herbert E. Boynton, and James Turner for appellee.

Mr. Justice Hughes delivered the opinion of the court:

This suit was brought by the International Transit Company, a Canadian corporation, to restrain the enforce- ment of an ordinance adopted, in the year 1911, by the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The ordinance related to the maintaining of ferries from that city across the St. Mary's river to the opposite shore, in the province of Ontario; and the complainant contended that, as applied to it, the ordinance was a violation of the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution and of article 1 of the treaty of January 11, 1909 (36 Stat. at L. 2449), between the United States and Great Britain. The district court granted the relief as prayed (194 Fed. 522); and this appeal is brought.

The transit company holds a license from the Dominion government to operate a ferry between Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It owns, and uses in this business, two steam ferryboats of British registry; it leases a private wharf in the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and there maintains an office where fares are received. The Canadian license prescribes the frequency of the service and fixes the maximum fares to be charged; it also provides that the licensee shall not 'infringe any of the laws or bylaws or of the regulations' of the United States or of the state of Michigan or 'of the town of Sault Ste. Marie, U. S. A.,' in reference to ferriage, 'which may be applicable to the said ferry or such portion thereof as may be within the jurisdiction of any of them.'

The city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was authorized by its charter to 'establish, license, and regulate ferries to and from the city,' and to prescribe rates. The charter also provided: 'The council may regulate and license ferries from the city or any place or landing therein to the opposite shore . . . and may require the payment of such reasonable sum for such license as the council shall deem proper; and may impose such reasonable terms and restrictions in relation to the keeping and management of such ferries, and the time, manner, and rates of carriage and transportation of persons and property, as may be proper; and provide for the revocation of any such license, and for the punishment, by proper fines and penalties, for the violation of any ordinance prohibiting unlicensed ferries and regulating those established and licensed.' Under this authority, the city adopted the ordinance in question. Section 1 is as follows:

'No person, persons, or company shall operate a ferryboat, or engage in the business of carrying or transporting persons or property thereon from the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and across the St. Mary's river to the opposite shore, without first obtaining a license therefor from the mayor, and by otherwise complying with the provisions of this ordinance.'

The mayor was empowered to grant a license upon the payment of $50 annually for each ferryboat engaged in such transportation, and it was further provided that, before any license should be issued, the person or company desiring the same should make application setting forth a schedule of the rates proposed to be charged within the prescribed territory. Additional provisions fixed the period and frequency of service and the rates to be charged from the licensee's dock within the city to the opposite shore. The mayor was authorized to revoke the license if he was satisfied that any of the provisions of the ordinance were violated. After the passage of this ordinance, one Pocock, operating a ferryboat belonging to the transit company without a license having been obtained therefor, was arrested and fined. Alleging the purpose of the city to enforce the ordinance, and its invalidity, the transit company then brought this suit.

It will be observed that the question is not simply as to the power of the state to prevent extortion and to fix reasonable ferry rates from the Michigan shore; it is not as to the validity of a mere police regulation governing the manner of conducting the business in order to secure safety and the public convenience. (See Port Richmond, &amp B. Point Ferry Co. v. Hudson County, decided this day [234 U. S. 317, 58 L. ed. ——, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 821].) The ordinance goes beyond this. The ordinance requires a municipal license; and the fundamental question is whether, in the circumstances shown, the state, or the city, acting under its authority, may make its consent a condition precedent to the prosecution of the business. If the state, or the city, may make its consent necessary, it may withhold it. The appellee, having its domicil in Canada, is engaged in commerce between Canada and the United States. At the wharf which it leases for the purpose on the American shore, it receives and lands persons and property. Has the state of Michigan the right to make this commercial intercourse a matter of local privilege, to demand that it shall not be carried on without its permission, and to exact as the price of its consent—if it chooses to give it—the payment of a license fee?

This question must be answered in the negative. It is urged, on behalf of the city, that the state, either directly or through its municipalities, may establish and license ferries,—may grant ferry franchises (Fanning v. Gregoire, 16 How. 524, 14 L. ed. 1043; Conway v. Taylor, 1 Black, 603, 17 L. ed. 191; Wiggins Ferry Co. v. East St. Louis, 107 U. S. 365, 27 L. ed. 419, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 257). But, since the decision in Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 196, 29 L. ed. 158, 1 Inters. Com. Rep. 382, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 826, it has been clear that, whatever...