Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson

Citations

• 154 U.S. 447
• 14 S. Ct. 1125
• 38 L. Ed. 1047
• 1894 U.S. LEXIS 2243

Syllabus

<p>The twelfth section of the Interstate Commerce Act authorizing the Circuit Courts of the United States to use their process in aid of inquiries befbre the Commission established by that'act, is not in conflict with the Constitution of the United States, as imposing on judicial tribunals duties not judicial in their nature.</p> <p>A petition filed under that section in the Circuit Court of the United States against a witness, duly summoued to testify before the Commission, to compel him to testify or to produce books, documents, and papers re.lating to the matter under investigation before that body, makes a case or controversy to which the judicial power of the United States extends.</p> <p>As every citizen is bound to obey the law and to yield obedience to the . constituted authorities acting within the law, the power conferred upon the Interstate Commerce Commission to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents relating to a matter under investigation by it, imposes upon any oné summoned by that body to appear and testify the duty of appearing and testifying, and upon any one required to produce such books, papers, and documents the duty of producing them, if the testimony sought and the books, papers, etc., called for relate to the matter under investigation, if such matter is one which the Commission is legally entitled to investigate, and if the witness is not excused by the law on some personal ground from doing what the Commission requires at his hands.</p> <p>Power given to Congress to regulate interstate commerce does not carry with it authority to destroy or impair those fundamental guarantees of personal rights that are recognized by the Constitution as inhering in the freedom of the citizen.</p> <p>It was open to each of the defendants in this proceeding to contend before the Circuit Court that he was protected by the Constitution from making answer to the questions propounded to him or that he