United States v. Joseph Harris

• Decision Date: 09 April 1900
• Docket Number: No. 169,169
• Citation: United States v. Joseph Harris, 177 U.S. 305, 20 S.Ct. 609, 44 L.Ed. 780 (1900)
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner , v. JOSEPH S. HARRIS, Edward M. Paxson, and John Lowber Welsh, Receivers of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

177 U.S. 305

20 S.Ct. 609

44 L.Ed. 780

UNITED STATES, Petitioner,

v JOSEPH S. HARRIS, Edward M. Paxson, and John Lowber Welsh, Receivers of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company.

No. 169.

Argued March 5, 6, 1900.

Decided April 9, 1900.

This was a suit brought in November, 1895, in the district court of by the United States against Joseph S. Harris, Edward M. Paxson, and John Lowber Welsh, receivers of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, to recover a penalty in the sum of $500 for an alleged violation of §§ 4386, 4387, 4388, and 4389 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

There was a verdict in favor of the United States, but afterwards, on a question reserved at the trial, judgment was entered in favor of the defendants non obstante veredicto. 78 Fed. Rep. 290. Thereupon a writ of error was sued out from the circuit court of appeals for the third circuit, and on March 14, 1898, the judgment of the district court was affirmed. 57 U. S. App. 259, 85 Fed. Rep. 533, 29 C. C. A. 327. The cause was then brought to this court on a writ of certiorari.

Solicitor General Richards for petitioner.

Mr. John G. Lamb for respondents.

Mr. Justice Shiras delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action to recover penalties for an alleged violation of the laws of the United States relating to the transportation of live stock; and the question involved is whether the defendants, who were in charge and control of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad as receivers, appointed by the circuit court of the United States, were liable in such an action.

The act under which this suit was brought was passed March 3, 1873, and was entitled 'An Act to Prevent Cruelty to Animals while in Transit by Railroad or Other Means of Transportation within the United States.' It appears in the Revised Statutes as §§ 4386, 4387, 4388, and 4389, as follows:

'Sec. 4386. No railroad company within the United States whose road forms any part of a line of road over which cattle, sheep, swine, or other animals are conveyed from one state to another, or the owners or masters of steam, sailing, or other vessels carrying or transporting cattle, sheep, swine, or other animals from one state to another, shall confine the same in cars, boats, or vessels of any description for a longer period than twenty-eight consecutive hours, without unloading the same for rest, water, and feeding for a period of at least five consecutive hours, unless prevented from so unloading by storm or other accidental causes. In estimating such confinement the time during which the animals have been confined without such rest on connecting roads from which they are received shall be included, it being the intent of this section to prohibit their continuous confinement beyond the period of twenty-eight hours, except upon contingencies hereinbefore stated.

'Sec. 4387. Animals so unloaded shall be properly fed and watered during such rest by the owner or person having the custody thereof, or in case of his default in so doing, then by the railroad company or owners or masters of boats or vessels transporting the same at the expense of the owner or person in custody thereof; and such company, owners, or masters shall in such case have a lien upon such animals for food, care, and custody furnished, and shall not be liable for any detention of such animals.

'Sec. 4388. Any company, owner, or custodian of such animals who knowingly and willingly fails to comply with the provisions of the two preceding sections, shall, for every such failure, be liable for and forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $500. But when animals are carried in cars, boats, or other vessels in which they can and do have proper food, water, space, and opportunity to rest, the provisions in regard to their being unloaded shall not apply.

'Sec. 4389. The penalty created by the preceding sections shall be recovered by civil action in the name of the United States, in the circuit or district court of the United States, holden within the district where the violation may have been committed, or the person or corporation resides or carries on its business; and it shall be the duty of all United States marshals, their deputies and subordinates, to prosecute all violations which come to their notice or knowledge.'

The contention on behalf of the government is that, by the words 'any company,' used in § 4388, Congress intended to embrace all common carriers, whether by rail or water, upon whom the duty was imposed by § 4386 of unloading and feeding the animals; that the word 'company' is used in a popular sense as signifying the person or persons, the association or corporation, carrying on the business of a common carrier by rail or water; that, as shown by its title, the act in question was a humane one, designed to prevent cruelty to animals while in course of interstate transit; that the regulations were to be complied with whenever animals were transported by rail or boat from one state or another; and that whoever had charge of the railroad or the boat had to see that these wholesome and humane regulations were obeyed, or had to pay the penalty for violating them.

To strengthen the argument that Congress intended to include even receivers when managing a railroad under an appointment by a court, the government's counsel calls attention to the provisions of the 2d and 3d sections of the act of August 13, 1888 (25 Stat. at L. 436, chap. 866), reading as follows: receiver or manager who shall wilfully violate in any court of the United States there shall be a receiver or manager in possession of any property such receiver or manager shall manage and operate...