Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Commission

Citations

• 251 U.S. 228
• 40 S. Ct. 131
• 64 L. Ed. 239
• 1920 U.S. LEXIS 1730

Syllabus

<p>If in the beginning or during its subsequent operation a pipe line is . devoted by its owner to the use of the public in transporting oil for hire, and if the right thus extended to the public has not been withdrawn, the pipe line is a public utility and its owner a common car- • rier whose rates and practices may be subjected to state regulation consistently with the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment: P. 230.</p> <p>The following grounds, relied on by the state court, have adequate support in the evidence and sustain its conclusion that the plaintiff in error had devoted its pipe line to public use, viz: (1) authority in ■ articles of incorporation to establish and carry on a general transportation business for transporting any oils produced by the pipeline company or others; (2) acquisition of part of its right of way ■ through eminent domain proceedings, admissible only, under the state law, if the condemnation Was for a’ public use and was by an “agent of the State,” and averments in such proceedings by. the condemnor that it was a common carrier seeking the right of way for a -public usd; (3) transportation in substance for all producers seeking the service, though done inform through an intermediate.agency and a system of contracts, it appéáring that membership in such agency was readily obtained andjiad not been refused. R 231.</p> <p>A common carrier cannot, by making contracts for future transportation, prevent or postpone the exertion by a State of the power to • regulate the carrier’s rates and practices. P. 232.</p> <p>Nor does the contract clause of the Constitution interpose any obstacle to the exertion of that power. Id.</p> <p>176 California, 499, affirmed.</p>