Interstate Commerce Commission v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 145 U.S. 263
• 12 S. Ct. 844
• 36 L. Ed. 699
• 1892 U.S. LEXIS 2138

Syllabus

<p>The issue by a railway company engaged in interstate commerce of a “ party-rate ticket” for the transportation of ten or more persons from a place situated in one State or Territory to a place situated in another State or Territory, at a rate less than that charged to a single individual, for a like transportation on the same trip, does not thereby make “ an unjust and unreasonable charge” against such individual within the meaning of § 1 of the act of February 4, 1887; to regulate commerce, 24 Stat. 379, c. 104; nor make an “unjust discrimination” against him within the meaning of § 2 of that act; nor give “ an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage’’ to the purchasers of the party-rate ticket ' withiri the meaning of § 3. •</p> <p>Section 22 of that act, as amended by the act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 855, 862, c. 382, § 9, provides that discriminations in favor of certain persons therein .named shall not be' deemed unjust, but it. does not forbid discriminations in favor of others under conditions and circumstances so substantially alike as to justify the same treatment.</p> <p>So far as Congress, in the act to regulate commerce, adopted the language ■ of the English Traffic Act, it is to be presumed that it had in mind the construction given by the English courts to the adopted language, and ■ intended to incorporate it into the Statute.</p>