State v. Chicago, M. & St. P. R. R.

• Decision Date: 29 April 1918
• Citation: 206 S.W. 419,200 Mo. App. 109
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE v. CHICAGO, M. & ST. P. R. R.

206 S.W. 419

200 Mo. App. 109

STATE v. CHICAGO, M. & ST. P. R. R.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

April 29, 1918.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Grundy County; George W. Wanamaker, Judge.

"Not to be officially published."

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was convicted of violating a state quarantine regulation, and it appeals. Reversed.

See, also, 272 Mo. 520, 199 S. W. 121.

Fred S. Hudson, of Kansas City, for appellant.

Frank W. McAllister and Whitelaw Bond, both of Jefferson City, for the State.

ELLISON, P. J.

The prosecuting attorney of Grundy county filed an information against the defendant in which he charged it with a violation of section 717, R. S. 1909, relating to the quarantine of cattle shipped from other states into this state. Defendant was convicted in the trial court and fined $1,000. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, but was transferred to this court on the ground that this court had, and the Supreme Court had not, jurisdiction of the case.

The statute referred to above reads as follows:

"The Governor of Missouri may, in his discretion, order said veterinary surgeon to visit any state or territory, and investigate any dangerous or infectious disease said to exist in any designated locality in the state named and report to the Governor the result of said investigation, together with such suggestions that he may deem proper and right. On receipt of such report, or any official report of the state veterinarian, the Governor may call the state board of agriculture and the state veterinary surgeon together, and that body and said veterinary surgeon may, if deemed wise, arrange and adjust such rules and regulations as safety may demand for the transportation of live stock through or into this state from any state or territory, or any foreign country or parts thereof, where dangerous contagious or infectious diseases may exist. Such rules and regulations shall not be in contradiction with constitutional laws of transportation and commerce, and shall be subject to the approval of the Governor.

"The Governor, on the approval of such rules and regulations, shall issue his proclamation, scheduling and quarantining against such localities in which domestic animals may be considered as capable of conveying infectious or contagious diseases and prohibit the importation and the unloading in this state of any live stock of the kind capable of causing such disease, except under the aforesaid rules and regulations. Such rules and regulations, after approval by the Governor, shall be sent to all corporations or other agencies doing the business of transportation or conveying live stock through or into the state of Missouri; and any corporation or agency or individuals who shall violate such rules and regulations by transporting prohibited animals shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than a thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars for each and every offense, and shall he liable for any and all damages or loss that may be sustained by any party or parties by reason of such importation or transportation: Provided, that in no case shall such corporations or agencies or individual be liable for any damages resulting from the shipping of stork into this state which has been inspected by the proper authorities and a certificate of health as to same having been given by said authorities. Such penalty shall be recovered in any county in this state into or through which such stork is brought upon information filed in the circuit court of any such county."

Taking this statute for authority, the Governor and state board of agriculture in September, 1911, established a quarantine against all the states of the Union, and rules and regulations were established and promulgated. It appears that defendant engaged to carry three carloads of rattle from Waucoma, Iowa, to Kansas City, in this state. After the cattle were loaded "the owner received a telegram that there was a quarantine against the Kansas City stock yards, and he then had defendant transport them to Galt, a town in Grundy county, Mo. On their arrival at Galt they were quarantined by the state veterinary, and this prosecution followed.

The point made by defendant is that the shipment being interstate commerce, and the federal government, as a proper part of its regulation of such commerce, having taken over to itself the regulation of quarantine, its action has superseded the state law, and therefore this prosecution, resulting in the penalty imposed on defendant under the state statute, must fail.

Undoubtedly the shipment in question from a point in Iowa to a point in Missouri was interstate commerce. Undoubtedly Congress has the power, granted by the federal Constitution, to regulate all material phases of such commerce to the exclusion of all state regulations and penalties. Nor can there be any doubt that the matter of quarantine of live stock for shipment or transportation—

"from state to state is a branch of interstate commerce, and that any specified rule or regulation in respect of such transportation, which Congress may lawfully prescribe or authorize and which may properly be deemed a regulation of such commerce, is paramount throughout the Union. So that when the entire subject of the transportation of live stock from one state to another is taken under direct national supervision, and a system devised by which diseased stock may be excluded from interstate commerce. all local or state regulations in respect of such matters, and covering the same ground, will cease to have any force, whether formally abrogated or not; and such rules and regulations as Congress may lawfully prescribe or authorize will alone control." Reid v. Colorado, 187 U. S. 137, 146, 23 Sup. Ct. 92, 95 (47 L. Ed. 108).

But where the act of the state does not unduly hinder or embarrass such commerce it may lawfully prescribe regulations in relation thereto; yet, when "Congress speaks upon the subject," it supersedes all state regulations. Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U. S. 491, 500, 33 Sup. Ct. 148, 57 L. Ed. 314, 44 L. R. A. (N. S.) 257; Southern Ry. Co. v. Reid, 222 U. S. 424, 436, 32 Sup. Ct. 140, 56 L. Ed. 257; Western Union Tel. Co. v. James, 162 U. S. 650, 660, 16 Sup. Ct. 934, 40 L. Ed. 1105; Minnesota Rate Cases, 220 U. S. 352, 402, 405, 408, 409, 33 Sup. Ct. 729, 57 L. Ed. 1511, 48 L. R. A. (N. S) 1151, Ann. Cas. 1918A, 18; Southern Ry. Co. v. Railroad, 236 U. S. 439, 446; 35 Skip. Ct. 304, 59 L. Ed. 661; Davis v. Western Union Tel. Co., 198 Mo. App. 392, 202 S. W. 292.

The decisive question is, has Congress taken to itself the regulation of quarantine for cattle in interstate shipments? In the year 1884 Congress established certain rules and regulations concerning quarantine of cattle. Act Cong. May 29, 1884, c. 60, 23 U. S. Statute, p. 31 (U. S. Comp. St. 1916, §§ 8690-8697). But it was only partial. In fact the act provided or recognized joint or concurrent jurisdiction by the state; and, except in certain particulars, that statute "left a wide field for the exercise by the states of their power, by appropriate regulations, to protect their domestic animals against contagious, infectious, and communicable diseases." Reid v. Colorado, 187 U. S. 137, 147, 23 Sup. Ct. 92, 96 (47 L. Ed. 108). But since the date of that statute, to wit, March 3,...