People of the State of New York Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. Erastus Knight

• Decision Date: 04 January 1904
• Docket Number: No. 91,91
• Citation: 192 U.S. 21,24 S.Ct. 202,48 L.Ed. 325
• Parties: PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK on the Relation of the PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err. , v. ERASTUS C. KNIGHT, Comptroller of the State of New York
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

192 U.S. 21

24 S.Ct. 202

48 L.Ed. 325

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK on the Relation of the PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v ERASTUS C. KNIGHT, Comptroller of the State of New York.

No. 91.

Argued December 11, 1903.

Decided January 4, 1904.

This is a writ of error to the supreme court of the state of New York to review a judgment of that court affirming the assessment by the comptro1a26ller of the state of New York of a certain tax against the relator, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The contention of the plaintiff in error is that the tax, which is a franchise tax imposed under appropriate statutes of New York upon the company for carrying on the business of running cabs and carriages for hire between points entirely within the state of New York, is invalid under the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States, article I., § 8, subdivision 3.

The facts are undisputed. In 1897 the company established a cab stand on its own premises at the Twenty-third street ferry in the city of New York, and has since maintained a service of cabs and coaches under special licenses from the city of New York, whereby they can stand on those premises only. The sole business done by those cabs and coaches is to bring the company's passengers to and from the Twenty-third street ferry. The charges for this service are separate from those of the company for further transportation, and no part of its receipts from the cab service is received as compensation for any service outside the state of New York. As a separate business, this cab service has not been profitable to the company, but has been operated at a loss. The validity of this tax was sustained both by the supreme court and the court of appeals of New York. 67 App. Div. 398, 73 N. Y. Supp. 790, 171 N. Y. 354, 64 N. E. 152.

Messrs. Henry Galbraith Ward, A, Leo Everett, and Robinson, Biddle, & Ward for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 22-25 intentionally omitted] Mr. John Cunneen for defendant in error.

Statement by Mr. Justice Brewer:

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:

The contention of the company is that this cab service is merely an extension, and therefore a part of, its interstate transportation; that it is not carrying on a cab business generally in the city of New York, but is merely furnishing the service to those who seek to take over its lines some interstate transportation, thus commencing the transportation from their houses instead of from the ferry landing, or like service to those who have already received such interstate transportation, thus completing the transportation to their places of destination; that the character of the business remains unchanged, although individuals may avail themselves of this service who do not intend or have not received any interstate transportation, for they who thus use the service do so wrongfully and against the wish of the company. In other words, the company, to promote its general business, seeks only to complete the continuous transportation of interstate passengers to or from their residences or hotels in New York city instead of commencing and ending such transportation at the ferry landing at Twenty-third street; the character of the service depends not on the action of the passenger, but on the purpose of the company in providing it, and the omission to include the charge for the cab service in the charges for other transportation arises from the practical difficulty of making such inclusion, and does not alter the fact that such cab service is a part of the interstate transportation.

To hold the even balance between the nation and the states in the exercise of their respective powers and rights, always difficult, is becoming more so through the growing complexity of social life and business conditions. Into many relations and transactions there enter elements of a national as well as those of a state character, and to determine in a given case which elements dominate, and assign the relation or transaction to the control of the nation or of the state, is often most perplexing. And this case fully illustrates the perplexities.

It is true that a passenger over the Pennsylvania Railroad to the city of New York does not, in one sense, fully complete his journey when he reaches the ferry landing on the New York side, but only when he is delivered at his temporary or permanent stopping place in the city. Looking at it from this standpoint, the company's cab service is simply one element in a continuous interstate transportation, and as such would be excluded from state, and be subject to national, control. The state may not tax for the privilege of doing an interstate commerce business. Atlantic & P Teleg. Co. v. Philadelphia, 190...