United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Public Service Comm'n, 250 U.S. 566 (1919)

Pennsylvania Railroad Company v.

Public Service Commission of Pennsylvania

No. 53

Argued October 24, 1919

Decided November 10, 1919

250 U.S. 566

Syllabus

A writ of error will lie to a judgment of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upholding a law of the state against an objection based on the federal Constitution, if the supreme court of the state refuses to allow an appeal. P. 250 U. S. 568.

Want of power in a state commission to consider the constitutionality of a law which it seeks to enforce cannot limit the right of a party affected to raise the question in the state courts. Id.

As applied to an interstate train terminated by a mail car, the law of Pennsylvania (Laws 1911, p. 1053, § 7) forbidding the operation

Page 250 U. S. 567

of any train consisting of United States mail or express cars without the rear end of the rear car's being equipped with a platform of thirty inches in width, with guard rails and steps, invades a subject of regulation fully occupied by Congress through the rules of the Postmaster General respecting the construction of mail cars and their equipment when used as end cars, and under the commerce clause, as is evinced by the Safety Appliance Act and the regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission thereunder, particularly those permitting the employment of caboose cars, which are constantly used as end cars, without platforms. Id.

67 Pa.Super.Ct.Rep. 575 reversed.

The case is stated in the opinion.