United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Ry. Co. v. ICC, 230 U.S. 324 (1913)

Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Company

v. Interstate Commerce Commission

No. 458

Argued February 19, 20, 1912

Decided June 9, 1913

230 U.S. 324

Syllabus

The meaning of the Act to Regulate Commerce and whether it applies to street railways carrying passengers over a state line cannot be determined from statements made in Congress during the debates on the bill; the act must be interpreted by its own terms as looked at in the whole.

In terms, the Act applies to all carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property by railroad, and the scope of the act depends on the definition of the word "railroad" as used in 1887, when the act was originally passed.

Street railways for passengers only, as they existed in 1887, were not within the contemplation of Congress in passing the Act to Regulate Commerce; such railroads are not subject to it provisions or under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission even though they carry passengers across the state line.

Quaere to what extent since the passage of the Act of June 18, 1910, interstate railways doing passenger, freight, and express business are now under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and if so, to what extent.

191 F. 40 reversed, and 179 F.2d 3 affirmed.

The facts, which involve the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission over certain classes of street railway systems, are stated in the opinion.

Page 230 U. S. 332