City of Sault Ste. Marie v. International Transit Co.

Citations

• 234 U.S. 333
• 34 S. Ct. 826
• 58 L. Ed. 1337
• 1914 U.S. LEXIS 1153

Syllabus

<p>A State may not make commercial' intercourse with another State or a foreign country a matter of local privilege and require that it cannot be carried on without its consent, and to exact a license fee as the price of that consent.</p> <p>Transportation between States and foreign countries is within the protection of the constitutional grant to Congress, and this includes transportation by ferry. Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pénnsylvania, 114 U. S. 196.</p> <p>One otherwise enjoying full capacity for the purpose of carrying on interstate or foreign commerce cannot be compelled to take out a local license for the mere privilege of carrying it on.</p> <p>An ordinance enacted by the city of Sault Ste. Marie under state authority, requiring a license fee for the operation of ferries to the Canadian shore opposite, held unconstitutional, as applied to the owners of a ferryboat plying from the Canadian shore, as a burden on interstate commerce.</p> <p>Quaere, whether such an ordinance is void as violative of Article I of the Treaty of 1909 with Great Britain. .</p>