New York Central Hudson River Railroad Company v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Hudson

• Decision Date: 24 February 1913
• Docket Number: No. 50,50
• Citation: 227 U.S. 248,33 S.Ct. 269,57 L.Ed. 499
• Parties: NEW YORK CENTRAL & HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF HUDSON
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

227 U.S. 248

33 S.Ct. 269

57 L.Ed. 499

NEW YORK CENTRAL & HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF HUDSON.

No. 50.

Argued November 13, 1912.

Decided February 24, 1913.

Messrs. Frank Bergen, Albert C. Wall, Thomas Emery, and James B. Vredenburgh for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 249-251 intentionally omitted] Messrs. E. Parmalee Prentice, John Griffin, and George Welwood Murray for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 251-256 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Henry E. Bodman, Alexis C. Angell, and Herbert E. Boynton as amici curioe.

Mr. Chief Justice White delivered the opinion of the court:

The rails of the main line of the West Shore Railroad Company extend from Buffalo to Albany, New York, and beyond, through the state of New York into New Jersey, to the terminus of the road at Weehawken, on the west bank of the Hudson river. From Weehawken steam ferries known as the West Shore Railroad ferries are operated over the river to several terminal points in New York city for the purpose of carrying railroad passengers and traffic from Weehawken to New York and from New York to Weehawken. Although these ferries are known as West Shore Railroad ferries, and are operated as railroad ferries, their business is not limited to incoming persons or traffic carried over the lines of the railroad, or to persons or traffic conveyed from New York to Weehawken, to be transported from there over the railroad. Indeed, from both directions a very large number of persons besides considerable traffic 'constantly move to and fro between the two states, not having used or intending to use the lines of the West Shore Railroad.'

In 1905 the board of chosen freeholders of Hudson county, New Jersey, adopted two ordinances: one fixing the rate for foot passengers ferried from New Jersey to New York, and the other for a round trip commencing on the New Jersey shore, which rates were applicable to the ferries in question. The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, engaged as a lessee in operating the lines of the West Shore Railroad, and its railroad ferries, commenced this proceeding to prevent the enforcement of the rates fixed by the ordinances. The contention was that the ordinances were an unwarranted interference with the interstate business of the company, and that the enforcement of the ordinances would constitute a direct burden on interstate commerce, which could not be done consistently with the Constitution. The supreme court of New Jersey maintained the contentions of the railroad company. The court of errors and appeals reversed the judgment of the supreme court. 76 N. J. L. 664, 74 Atl. 954, 16 Ann. Cas. 858. The case is now here, the writ of error having been directed to the supreme court, to which the record was remitted from the court of errors and appeals.

At the outset it is to be observed that the contentions pressed in argument by both parties take a wider range than the necessities of the case require. We make a very brief reference to certain decisions of this court referred to in argument by both parties in order that they may aid us to plainly mark the boundaries of the real issues required to be decided, thus enabling us to put out of view irrelevant considerations and confine our attention to things essential.

Fanning v. Gregoire, 16 How. 524, 14 L. ed. 1043, required a consideration of the right of the legislature of Iowa to authorize a ferry across the Mississippi river at Dubuque. Without going into details it suffices to say that the subject was elaborately considered and the power of the state to grant the ferry right was sustained. In Conway v. Taylor, 1 Black, 603, 17 L. ed. 191, the right of the state of Kentucky to grant franchises for ferrying across the Ohio river was considered and the power was upheld, the general reasoning stated in Fanning v. Gregoire being reiterated and approved. It is undoubtedly true that, in the course of the reasoning of both the cases just referred to, expressions were made use of which give some support to the view that the power to regulate ferriage, even as to a stream bounding two states, was purely local, not transferred by the states to Congress, and therefore not within the grant of power to Congress to regulate commerce.

Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 196, 29 L. ed. 158, 1 Inters. Com. Rep. 382, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 826, concerned the validity of a tax imposed by the state of Pennsylvania on a ferry company operating between Gloucester, New Jersey, and the city of Philadelphia. The tax was resisted on the ground that it was a direct burden on interstate commerce, and therefore void as an interference with the power of Congress to regulate commerce. The contention was sustained. The whole subject of ferriage was elaborately considered, and in the course of the opinion it was expressly declared, after considering the decisions in Fanning v. Gregoire and Conway v. Taylor, that ferriage over a stream constituting a boundary between two states was within the grant to Congress to regulate commerce, and therefore not subject to be directly burdened by a state. It was also, however, held that, in view of the character of such ferries and the diversity of regulation which might be required, the right to regulate them came within that class of subjects which, although within the power of Congress, the states had the right to deal with until Congress had manifested its paramount and exclusive authority.

In Covington & C. Bridge Co. v. Kentucky, 154 U. S. 204, 38 L. ed. 962, 4 Inters. Com. Rep. 649, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1087, the right of the state of Kentucky to impose tolls for use of a bridge across the Ohio river was challenged on the ground that the state had no authority to fix the tolls, because to do so was the assertion of a power to regulate commerce, and therefore was an interference with the exclusive power of Congress on that subject. The tolls were held to be invalid. The opinion beyond question reasserted the principle enforced in the Gloucester Ferry Case, that the movement across a stream, the boundary between two states, was within the grant of power to Congress to regulate commerce, and therefore, generically speaking, not subject to the exertion of state authority. Indeed, in view of the fact that there was no act of Congress dealing with the subject of the tolls which were under review in the Covington Case, it is true to say that there are expressions in the opinion in that case which have been considered, whether rightly or wrongly we do not feel called upon to say, as qualifying or overruling the conclusion expressed in the Gloucester Case as to the power of a state to regulate ferries upon a stream bordering two states until Congress had manifested its purpose to exert its authority over the subject.

In St. Clair County v. Interstate Sand & Car Transfer Co. 192 U. S. 454, 48 L. ed. 518, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 300, the question considered was the liability of the transfer company to penalties imposed by the county of St. Clair, a municipal corporation of the state of Illinois, for having failed to obtain a license 'for carrying on a ferry for transferring railroad cars, loaded or unloaded, over the county of St. Clair, in Illinois, to the Missouri shore, and from the Missouri shore to the county of St. Clair.' It was...