In re Opinion of the Justices
| Decision Date | 02 March 1937 |
| Citation | 190 A. 713 |
| Parties | In re OPINION OF THE JUSTICES. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Answer to question propounded to the Justices of the Supreme Court by resolution of the House of Representatives.
On February 10, 1937, the following resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives:
The following answer was returned: To the House of Representatives:
The Justices of the Supreme Court make the following answer to the inquiry contained in your resolution of February 10, concerning the constitutionality of House Bill No. 380.
The bill provides for the appointment of a Milk Control Board of three members, who "shall have power to supervise, regulate and control the production, distribution and sale of milk within the state," to designate marketing areas and to "fix the just and reasonable minimum and maximum prices" of milk when certain conditions are found to exist.
So far as sections 5 and 10 of the act purport to confer upon the board general authority to regulate and control the milk industry, they are invalid as comprising an unrestricted delegation of legislative power. Ferretti v. Jackson (N.H.) 188 A. 474, 479. The same is true of section 13, which relates to conferences and agreements with legally constituted boards of other states.
We find nothing unconstitutional, however, in the provisions of section 6. The "policy and standard for action have been announced with adequate completeness" (Ferretti v. Jackson, supra); the power of the board to establish prices is dependent on the prevalence of an economic condition injurious to public health in a definite marketing area, and the existence of this condition in such area must first be found as a fact after public notice and hearing; the prices fixed by the board are not permanent but may be changed when the public interest so demands.
Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502, 523, 54 S.Ct. 505, 510, 78 L.Ed. 940, 89 A.L.R. 1469. But many decisions "show that the private character of a business does not necessarily remove it from the realm of regulation of charges or prices." Id., 291 U.S. 502, 535, 54 S.Ct. 505, 515, 78 L.Ed. 940, 89 A.L.R. 1469.
"If the lawmaking body within its sphere of government concludes that the conditions or practices in an industry make...
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