United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

New York Central & H. R. R. Co. v. Hudson County, 227 U.S. 248 (1913)

New York Central & Hudson River

Railroad Company v. Hudson County

No. 50

Argued November 13, 1912

Decided February 24, 1913

227 U.S. 248

Syllabus

Congress, by passing the Act to Regulate Commerce, has taken control of interstate railroads, and, having expressly included ferries used in connection therewith, has destroyed the power of the states to regulate such ferries. Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 196, distinguished.

Quaere whether Covington Bridge Co. v. Kentucky, 154 U. S. 204, overruled Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 196.

An assertion of power by Congress over a subject within its domain must be treated as coterminous with its authority over the subject, and leaves no element of the subject to control of the state.

The operation at one time of both the power of Congress and that of the state over a matter of interstate commerce is inconceivable; the execution of the greater power takes possession of the field, and leaves nothing upon which the lesser power can operate.

Page 227 U. S. 250

No portion of the business of a ferry which is part of an interstate railway is under the control of the state, and so held that the state authorities have no power to regulate the fare of passengers, whether railroad passengers or not, on the ferry between Weehawken, New Jersey, and New York City, known as the West Shore Ferry and operated by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad.

76 N.J.L. 664 reversed.

The facts, which involve the constitutionality under the commerce clause of an ordinance of Hudson County, New Jersey, fixing rates of ferriage across the Hudson River to New York city on the ferry operated by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as lessee of the West Shore Railroad Company, are stated in the opinion.

Page 227 U. S. 256