State v. Crawford

Citations

• 74 Wash. 248
• 133 P. 590
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 2030

Syllabus

<p>Carriers — Rate Regulations — Constitutional Law — Equal Protection of the Laws — Criminal Prosecutions — Excessive Penalties. Laws 1911, p. 558, § 25, providing that no street railroad company shall charge or collect more than five cents for one continuous ride within the city limits, and Id., p. 606, § 95, making it a gross misdemeanor for any officer or agent to violate the law or fail to comply with any order of the railway commission, punishable under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2267, by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by both, is unconstitutional as being a denial of the equal protection of the laws in that the company may only have a hearing upon a claim of the unconstitutionality of the statute at the risk of such heavy and successive penalties as to amount to intimidation and foreclose its right to litigate the question.</p>