Massachusetts State Grange v. Benton

• Decision Date: 31 December 1925
• Docket Number: No. 2471.,2471.
• Citation: 10 F.2d 515
• Parties: MASSACHUSETTS STATE GRANGE et al. v. BENTON, Attorney General of Massachusetts, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

10 F.2d 515 (1925)

MASSACHUSETTS STATE GRANGE et al. v. BENTON, Attorney General of Massachusetts, et al.

No. 2471.

District Court, D. Massachusetts.

December 31, 1925.

Frank W. Morrison, of Worcester, Mass., for plaintiffs.

Lewis Goldberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendants.

Before ANDERSON, Circuit Judge, and MORTON and LOWELL, District Judges.

PER CURIAM.

The plaintiffs brought this suit to enjoin the Attorney General and other officials of the commonwealth from enforcing the Massachusetts Daylight Saving Act, on the ground that it is in conflict with the federal Standard Time Act, and therefore unconstitutional. It comes before this court, constituted of three judges under the provisions of section 266 of the Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1243), on the plaintiffs' application for a preliminary injunction. The respondents have filed a motion to dismiss, in the nature of a general demurrer, and for lack of jurisdiction.

As we are all of the opinion that the application for a preliminary injunction must be denied, and that the bill must be dismissed, and as in such case an appeal may be taken directly to the Supreme Court, no elaborate analysis of the bill and of the question involved is called for.

It is elementary that the jurisdiction now invoked is not to be exercised except "in a case reasonably free from doubt," and "when necessary to prevent great and irreparable injury." Cavanaugh v. Looney, 248 U. S. 453, 456, 39 S. Ct. 142, 63 L. Ed. 354; Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123, 166, 28 S. Ct. 441, 52 L. Ed. 714, 13 L. R. A. (N. S.) 932, 14 Ann. Cas. 764. Plaintiffs met neither of these two essential conditions.

The federal Standard Time Act (Act March 19, 1918, 40 Stat. p. 450 Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 8907r et seq., as amended by the Act Aug. 20, 1919, 41 Stat. p. 280) divides continental United States into five zones, of about 15 degrees each, the precise limits of each zone to be defined by the Interstate Commerce Commission, "having regard for the convenience of commerce and the existing junction points and division points of common carriers engaged" in interstate commerce, and provides that within the respective zones the standard time shall be the mean astronomical time, starting at 75 degrees of west longitude.

Plaintiffs rely chiefly upon section 2 (Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 8907s), which reads:

"That within the respective zones created under the authority hereof the standard time of the zone shall govern the movement of all common carriers engaged in commerce between the several states or between a state and any of the territories of the United States, or between a state or the territory of Alaska and any of the insular possessions of the United States or any foreign country. In all statutes, orders, rules, and regulations relating to the time of performance of any act by any officer or department of the United States, whether in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of the government, or relating to the time within which any rights shall accrue or determine, or within which any act shall or shall not be performed by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, it shall be understood and intended that the time shall be the United States standard time of the zone within which the act is to be performed."

In argument stress is put upon the language underscored.

The Massachusetts act (G. L. Mass. c. 4, § 10), as amended by Acts 1921, c. 145, provides that from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday of September "the standard time in this commonwealth shall be advanced one hour," so that "the standard time in this commonwealth shall be one hour in advance of the United States standard Eastern time."

This act reads as follows:

"At two o'clock ante meridian of the last Sunday in April of each year, the standard time in this commonwealth shall be advanced one hour, and at two o'clock ante meridian of the last Sunday in September of each year the standard time in this commonwealth shall, by the retarding of one hour, be made to coincide with the mean astronomical time of the degree of longitude governing the zone wherein the...