Moore v. City of Eufaula

• Decision Date: 15 December 1892
• Citation: 11 So. 921,97 Ala. 670
• Parties: MOORE v. CITY OF EUFAULA.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

11 So. 921

97 Ala. 670

MOORE v. CITY OF EUFAULA.

Supreme Court of Alabama

December 15, 1892

Appeal from circuit court, Barbour county; J. M. CARMICHAEL, Judge.

Proceeding by the city of Eufaula against O. T. Moore to recover a fine for the violation of one of plaintiff's ordinances. A demurrer to defendant's answer was sustained, and judgment rendered thereon for plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Affirmed.

H D. Clayton, for appellant.

G L. Comer, for appellee.

COLEMAN J.

Appellant Moore, was fined for a violation of an ordinance of the city of Eufaula, which required of "each and every person or company engaging in the business of sending and receiving telegraph messages to and from points within the state of Alabama, and keeping an office or place of business in the city of Eufaula, to pay a license tax," etc. The plea of the defendant to the complaint is substantially the same as that pleaded by the defendant in the case of Leloup v Port of Mobile, 127 U.S. 640, 8 S.Ct. 1380; and it is insisted that the principle of law declared in that case is applicable to the present case, and is conclusive against the validity of the ordinance for a violation of which the defendant was prosecuted. We are of opinion that the ordinance under which the prosecution in the former case was had is essentially different from that to be considered in the case at bar in its application to the facts. Congress has exclusive power in all matters of interstate commerce, and the authority of the states in all matters of commerce purely domestic is equally sovereign and exclusive. Communication by telegraph is commerce, and, when carried on with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes, congress alone has power to regulate it. The principle of exclusive authority of congress to regulate commerce has been extended until it is made to apply to all connecting lines used for the transmission of communication from one state to another, although such connecting lines may lie wholly within a single state. Congress also has exclusive power to establish post offices and post roads. Any law of a state which obstructs or burdens interstate commerce, or hinders the regular and legal administration of the general government, must be held to be unconstitutional and void. The power of the state over its internal affairs is subject to no limitation outside of the constitution of the United States. The Western Union Telegraph Company, incorporated by the state of New York, can derive no power from its creator to do business within the jurisdiction of the state of Alabama. Considered purely as a foreign corporate body, deriving its powers from a charter granted by the state of New York, the state of Alabama has the power to prescribe police regulation for its government within its boundaries, and to tax its property situated here for the purposes of revenue, having due regard that no unjust discrimination be made. The complaint avers that the defendant, "as managing agent of the Western Union Telegraph Company, a corporation having a place of business in the said city of Eufaula, did then and there, as such agent, engage in the business and occupation of transmitting telegrams from and to points within the state of Alabama, and between the private individuals of the state of Alabama and others within said state," etc. The gist of the defense set up in the plea to the charge in effect asserts the proposition that, inasmuch as the telegraph company has accepted the benefit of the act of congress set out in the plea, and subjected itself to its conditions, and may, therefore, be used by the government for the administration of public affairs, or inasmuch as by its various connections with lines in other states, it may be used for purposes of interstate commerce therefore the telegraph company, though a foreign corporation, has the right, in violation of the state laws, to...