Texas Pacific Railway Company v. Railroad Commission of Louisiana

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: White
• Citation: Texas Pacific Railway Company v. Railroad Commission of Louisiana, 232 U.S. 338, 34 S.Ct. 438, 58 L.Ed. 631 (1914)
• Decision Date: 24 February 1914
• Docket Number: No. 186,186
• Parties: TEXAS & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Appt. v. RAILROAD COMMISSION OF LOUISIANA and the Individual Members Thereof

232 U.S. 338

34 S.Ct. 438

58 L.Ed. 631

TEXAS & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Appt.

v RAILROAD COMMISSION OF LOUISIANA and the Individual Members Thereof.

No. 186.

Argued and submitted January 23, 1914.

Decided February 24, 1914.

Mr. Thomas J. Freeman for appellant.

Mr. Wylie M. Barrow and Mr. Ruffin G. Pleasant, Attorney General of Louisiana, for appellees.

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

Appellant, a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, filed its bill in equity in the circuit court for the eastern district of Louisiana to restrain the enforcement of an order of the Louisiana Railroad Commission fixing rates for the carriage of cottonseed and its products, on the ground that the order exceeded the powers conferred upon the commission by the state law; indeed, was so unreasonably low as to be a violation of the due process clause of the state Constitution. After issue joined the testimony was heard by a special master, who found for complainant. The circuit court, on exceptions filed by respondents to the master's report, after reviewing the facts, gave judgment sustaining the exceptions, setting aside the report, and dismissing the bill on the ground that the evidence did not support the master's report,—in other words, that the complainant had failed to prove its case. On appeal to the circuit court of appeals the evidence was again reviewed, and the judgment...