United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Lake Erie & Western R. Co. v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 249 U.S. 422 (1919)

Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company v.

State Public Utilities Commission ex Rel. Cameron

No. 204

Argued March 13, 1919

Decided April 14, 1919

249 U.S. 422

Syllabus

An order of a state commission, under legislative authority, requiring a railroad to restore a siding is a state law within the meaning of the provisions of the Constitution and acts of Congress regulating the jurisdiction of this Court. P. 249 U. S. 424.

Under the laws of Illinois, a side track of a railroad company, used principally in moving freight from and to a particular plant, held open to use by the public and subject to public control like other parts of the railroad, impressed with a public character. Id.

Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Co. v. Ochs, ante, 249 U. S. 416, followed as to the

Page 249 U. S. 423

power of a state to require a railroad company, at it own expense, to restore a siding used principally by a particular plant but available generally as a public track, owned and controlled by the railroad a part of its system. P. 249 U. S. 424.

Such a requirement does not take the company's property for private use, or for public use without compensation, in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 249 U. S. 425.

277 Ill. 574 affirmed.

The case is stated in the opinion.