Wadley Southern Railway Co. v. Georgia

Citations

• 235 U.S. 651
• 35 S. Ct. 214
• 59 L. Ed. 405
• 1915 U.S. LEXIS 1823

Syllabus

<p>The general common-law rule that a carrier has the option of demand- ■ ing freight in advance or on delivery applies not only to the shipper but also to the connecting carrier; but qumre how far this rule may ' be or has been modified by statutes prohibiting discrimination.</p> <p>This court, being bound by the construction given by the highest state court to a statute of the State, holds that the statute of Georgia . involved in this case gives power to the State Railroad Commission to require a railroad to treat all connecting carriers alike in regard to payment of freight in advance or on delivery,-and the only question here is whether an order requiring a railroad company to cease demanding payment in advance from one carrier and not from another violates the due process provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.</p> <p>Although the particular section which authorizes an order of a state railroad commission may not provide for a hearing, if the state court has construed that section as part of the law establishing the commission and which does require hearings, that section is not unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment as denying an opportunity to be heard; and so held as to the Georgia Railroad Commission Law.</p> <p>An order óf the Georgia State Railroad Commission, requiring a railroad to desist from demanding freight in advance on merchandise received from one carrier while it accepts merchandise Qf the same character at the same point from another carrier without such prepayment, being otherwise legal, is not so arbitrary and unreasonable as to be violative of the due process clause pf the Fourteenth Amendment.</p> <p>A State has power to impose penalties sufficiently heavy to secure obedience to orders of public utility commissions after they have been found lawful or after the parties affected have had ample opportunity ■ to test the validity of administrative orders and failed so to do.</p> <p>A party affected by a statute passed without his hav