United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. Virginia, 282 U.S. 440 (1931)

Railway Express Agency, Incorporated v. Virginia

No. 55

Argued January 19, 1931

Decided February 2, 1931

282 U.S. 440

Syllabus

A Delaware corporation, which acquired and conducted, as agent of the railroad, the interstate and intrastate railway express business throughout the country was created after a provision of the Virginia Constitution became effective, forbidding any foreign corporation to carry on the business of a public service company, intrastate, and was therefore denied a certificate of authority.

Held:

1. That the prohibition was not shown to be void as a burden on interstate commerce.

2. That it did not, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, deprive the foreign corporation of its right to sue in the federal courts and to remove suits to them on the ground of diversity of citizenship. P. 282 U. S. 444.

153 Va. 498, affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment confirming an order of a state corporation commission denying to a foreign corporation a certificate of authority to do an intrastate business.

Page 282 U. S. 443