William Dinsmore v. Southern Express Company

• Decision Date: 18 November 1901
• Docket Number: No. 136,136
• Citation: 22 S.Ct. 45,46 L.Ed. 111,183 U.S. 115
• Parties: WILLIAM B. DINSMORE and C. Gray Dinsmore, and William B. Dinsmore, C. Gray Dinsmore, and Dumont Clarke, as Executors and Trustees under the Will of William B. Dinsmore, Deceased, Petitioners , v. SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY, L. N. Trammell, Thomas C. Crenshaw, Jr., and Spencer R. Atkinson, Composing the Railroad Commission of the State of Georgia, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

183 U.S. 115

22 S.Ct. 45

46 L.Ed. 111

WILLIAM B. DINSMORE and C. Gray Dinsmore, and William B. Dinsmore, C. Gray Dinsmore, and Dumont Clarke, as Executors and Trustees under the Will of William B. Dinsmore, Deceased, Petitioners,

v SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY, L. N. Trammell, Thomas C. Crenshaw, Jr., and Spencer R. Atkinson, Composing the Railroad Commission of the State of Georgia, et al.

No. 136.

Argued February 25, 1901.

Decided November 18, 1901.

Messrs.William K. Miller and Frank H. Miller for petitioners.

Messrs. Joseph M. Terrell and Fleming G. duBignon for respondents.

Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

William B. Dinsmore and others, citizens of New York,—some of them being executors and trustees under the will of the late William B. Dinsmore of that state,—brought this action on the 17th day of April, 1897, in the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Georgia against the Southern Express Company, a corporation of Georgia having its principal place of business in that state, and also against L. N. Trammell, Thomas C. Crenshaw, and Spencer R. Atkinson, constituting the Railroad Commission of Georgia, and Joseph M. Terrell, Attorney General of Georgia, the individual defendants being citizens of Georgia.

The plaintiffs sued as owners and holders of shared of stock in the defendant express company, and sought a decree that would prevent the application by that corporation of any of its moneys to meet the requirement of the war revenue act of June 13th, 1898, chap. 448, in relation to adhesive stamps to be placed upon bills of lading, manifests, or other evidences of the receipt of goods for carriage or transportation.

The portion of that act to which the bill referred is the following:

'Express and Freight: It shall be the duty of every railroad or steamboat company, carrier, express company, or corporation, or person whose occupation is to act as such, to issue to the shipper or consignor, or his agent, or person from whom any goods are accepted for transportation, a bill of lading, manifest, or other evidence of receipt and forwarding for each shipment received for carriage and transportation, whether in bulk or in boxes, bales, packages, bundles, or not so inclosed or included; and there shall be duly attached and canceled, as is in this act provided, to each of said bills of lading, manifests, or other memorandum, and to each duplicate thereof, a stamp of the value of one cent: Provided, That but one bill of lading shall be required on bundles or packages of newspapers when inclosed in one general bundle at the time of shipment. Any failure to issue such bill of lading, manifest, or other memorandum, as herein provided, shall subject such railroad or steamboat company, carrier, express company, or corporation, or person to a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense, and no such bill of lading, manifest, or other memorandum shall be used in evidence unless it shall be duly stamped as aforesaid.' 30 Stat. at L. 448, 459, chap. 448.

After the passage of the above act complaint was made by citizens of Georgia to the railroad commission of that state to the effect that the defendant express company required shippers or consignors to supply the requisite stamps for bills of lading or receipts given to them. The commission thereupon, July 11th, 1898, ordered that the Southern Express Company appear before it on the 18th day of July, 1898, 'then and there to show cause, if any it can, why it should not be held to have violated the rules and regulations of this commission by the exactions or overcharges, as aforesaid, and why suit should not be instituted against it in every case of such overcharges for the recovery of the penalty provided by law for such illegal act.'

The company appeared and denied the jurisdiction of the commission. But on August 2d, 1898, the commission, after hearing the parties, ordered that the required stamp be supplied by the express company, and not by shippers in whole or in part.

Appropriate allegations having been made to show that the suit was not a collusive one to confer on a court of the United States jurisdiction of the case, of which it would not otherwise have cognizance, the relief asked was——

That it be adjudged and decreed that the order of the railroad commission of the state of Georgia of August 2d, 1898, requiring the express company to pay the amount of the war revenue tax on business from one point to another in the state without endeavoring to collect the same from shippers, or requiring them to make the payment thereof before the issuing of receipts or bills of lading, was unconstitutional, null, and void; that the express company, its officers and agents, be restrained from voluntarily complying with the order of the commission of August 2d, 1898, and paying such tax; that the attorney general of the state be restrained from instituting any suit against the express company for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the above order of the railroad commission; that a perpetual injunction, of the same purport, tenor, and effect be granted to complainants; and that the plaintiffs have such other and further relief in the premises as the nature of the case required and to a court of equity might seem meet.

The railroad commissioners and the attorney general of the state severally demurred to the bill. The case having been argued upon the demurrers, Judge Speer delivered an opinion which is reported in 92 Fed. 714.

That opinion was accompanied by the following order, entered March 7th, 1899: 'It is now upon consideration ordered, adjudged, and...