Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. v. Iowa

Syllabus

<p>Whether commerce is interstate or intrastate must be determined by the essential character of the commerce and not. by mere billing or forms of contract.</p> <p>The reshipment of an interstate shipment by the consignees in the cars in which received to other points of destination does not necessarily establish a continuity of movement or prevent the shipment to a point within the same State from having an independent and intrastate character.</p> <p>In this case, held, that shipments of. coal when reshipped, after arrival from points without the State and acceptance by the consignees, to points within the State on new and regular billing forms constituted intrastate shipments and were subject to the jurisdiction of the State Railroad Commission.</p> <p>Whether the common law or statutory provisions apply to a case is for the state court to determine, and so held, that in Iowa the State Railroad Commission has power under the state law to require common carriers to use the equipment of connecting carriers to transport shipments from the points of original destination to other points -within the State.</p> <p>A State may, so long as it acts within its own jurisdiction and not in hostility to any Federal regulation of interstate commerce, compel a carrier to accept, for further veshipment over its lines to points within the State, cars already loaded and in suitable condition; and an order to that effect by the State Railroad Commission is not unconstitutional as depriving the carrier of its property without due process of law.</p> <p>Where it appears that an order of the State Railroad Commission simply required the carrier to continue a former practice, and the record does not disclose that it Involves additional expense over the new practice proposed, this court is not justified in holding that the order is unconstitutional as depriving the carrier of its' property without due process of law because it subjects it to an unreasonable expense.</p> <p>This eourt can