State ex rel. Washington Mill Co. v. Great Northern Railway Co.

Citations

• 43 Wash. 658
• 86 P. 1056
• 1906 Wash. LEXIS 765

Syllabus

<p>Carriers —- Charges — Regulation — Constitutional Law — Due Process op Law. Laws 1905, p. 238, § 2, arbitrarily fixing the weight of standards for lumber cars at one thousand pounds, and requiring such weight to be deducted from the net weight of the lumber on all car loads received for shipment, regardless of the actual weight of such standards, is unconstitutional as unreasonable and requiring the carriage of part of the lumber without reward, being a taking of property without due process of law.</p> <p>Same — Reasonableness op Regulation. Any regulation of rates which arbitrarily fixes the weight of cars or equipment at more or less than the actual weight is unreasonable, notwithstanding the difference between that and the actual weight is small as compared with the weight of the cargo; and six hundred pounds per car to be carried free is a substantial amount and a confiscation of property.</p> <p>Same — Statutes—Construction. The fact that § 1 of the act provides that the shipper shall furnish such standards, and that the weight of the equipment shall be added to the weight of the car, “so that the freight shall be charged by the carriers only on the cargo carried,” does not obviate the defect in § 2 requiring one thousand pounds to be deducted from the “net weight of the lumber carried,” which is an unreasonable regulation and in violation of art. 14, § 1, of the Federal constitution.</p>