United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

St. Clair County v. Interstate Transfer Co., 192 U.S. 454 (1904)

St. Clair County v. Interstate Sand

and Car Transfer Company

No. 17

Argued March 19, 1903

Decided February 23, 1904

192 U.S. 454

Syllabus

Conceding, arguendo, that the police power of a state extends to the establishment, regulation or licensing of ferries on navigable streams which are boundaries between it and another state, there are no decisions of this Court importing power in a state to directly control interstate commerce or any transportation by water across such a river which does not constitute a ferry in the strict technical sense of that term.

There is an essential distinction between a ferry in the restricted and legal signification of the term and the transportation of railroad cars across a boundary river between two states constituting interstate commerce, and such transportation cannot be subjected to conditions imposed by a state which are direct burdens upon interstate commerce.

The facts in this case, which involved the right of the county to recover statutory penalties for carrying on, without a ferry license, the transportation of cars across the Mississippi River between points in Illinois and Missouri, are stated in the opinion.

Page 192 U. S. 456