Public Service Commission v. Northern Central Railway Co.

Citations

• 122 Md. 355

Syllabus

<p>Common carriers: regulation of — ; by Legislature or duly constituted Commission. Railroads: switching rights; interchange and transportation of carload freight; use of terminals; just compensation; rates; Public Service Commission; evidence; computations from boohs of carriers; rate fixing a legislar tive function; appeals; jurisdiction of courts. Due process of law. Iuaw of land.</p> <p>To give the use of their tracks and terminals to competing lines is not a common law obligation of carriers. p. 372</p> <p>The Legislature may, subject to constitutional limitations, prescribe reasonable regulations for the conduct of common carriers, and impose upon railroad companies operating within 1he State, duties exceeding their common law obligations, and may exercise this right, not only directly, but also through a commission duly constituted for that purpose. p. 372</p> <p>In general, a railroad company can not (without adequate compensation) be required to deliver to another railroad company, at a junction at or near its terminals, carload freight for delivery at the terminals of a competing line,, when the terminals of the latter are at or near the terminals of the former; nor can a railroad company be required to receive such freight from a connecting line at a point of connection at or near its terminal, for delivery to its terminals. p. 379</p> <p>Under the Public Service Commission Act, a common carrier may be required to receive from another railroad carload freight, and haul the same to its terminal, provided the point of connection is not at or near its terminal. p. 379</p> <p>“The law of the land,” as used in the State Constitution, and “due process of law,” as used in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the ,United States, have the same significance. ■ p. 386</p> <p>An order of the Public Service Commission requiring the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Company to accept the carload freight delivered to it by the Pennsylvania R. R. Co., at a connecting po