Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. McGrew Coal Co.

Citations

• 244 U.S. 191
• 37 S. Ct. 518
• 61 L. Ed. 1075
• 1917 U.S. LEXIS 1625

Syllabus

<p>The court is not called upon to consider state statutes passed for the enforcement of a provision in the state constitution, when the latter as construed and applied in the case by the state supreme court is self-executing and covers the judgment in question.</p> <p>As applied to a company engaged in both interstate and intrastate traffic, a state regulation, in respect of the latter only, which forbids any railroad company in general terms from charging more for a shorter haul than for a longer haul for the same class of freight over any portion of its lines within the State without regard to direction, circumstances or condition, and which allows the shipper an absolute right to recover any overcharges collected from him in violation of the prohibition, is consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment, the Commerce Clause, and the Interstate Commerce Acts, in the absence of special facts and circumstances warranting a different conclusion in the particular case. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co. v. Kentucky, 183 U. S. 503.</p> <p>To claim exemption from such regulations under the Contract Clause, the existence of a special protecting contract must be shown by the record.</p>