United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Blackwell, 244 U.S. 310 (1917)

Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Blackwell

No. 213

Submitted April 24, 1917

Decided June 4, 1917

244 U.S. 310

Syllabus

That provision of the "Blow-Post" law of Georgia (Civil Code, 1910, §§ 2675-2677) which requires railroad companies to check the speed of trains before public road crossings so that trains may be stopped in time should any person or thing be crossing the track there is a direct and unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce as applied to the state of facts specifically pleaded by the defendant interstate carrier in this case, whereby it appears that, to comply with the requirement, the interstate train in question would have been obliged to come practically to a stop at each of 124 ordinary grade crossings within a distance of 123 miles in Georgia extending from Atlanta to the South Carolina line, and that more than six hours would thus have been added to the schedule time of four hours and thirty minutes. Southern Railway Co. v. King, 217 U. S. 524, distinguished.

16 Ga.App. 504, reversed.

The case is stated in the opinion.