United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U.S. 511 (1935)

Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc.

No. 604

Argued February 11, 12, 1935

Decided March 4, 1935*

294 U.S. 511

Syllabus

1. A law or regulation of a State which prohibits the sale of milk imported from another State unless the price paid in that other to the producer was up to the minimum prescribed by the first State for purchases from local producers is a direct and unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce, whether applied to milk sold by the importer in the cans in which it was imported or to milk sold by him in bottles in which it was put after importation. Pp. 294 U. S. 521, 294 U. S. 526.

2. Such a regulation cannot be sustained as an exercise of police power upon the ground that economic security of the dairyman works for the sanitary security of the community by insuring both an adequate supply and a wholesome quality of a necessary food. P. 294 U. S. 522.

District Court reversed in part; affirmed in part.

CROSS-APPEAL to review a decree of the District Court, of three judges, in a suit brought by Seelig, Inc., a milk dealer, to restrain Baldwin and other state officials from prosecuting it for selling without a license in New York

Page 294 U. S. 512

milk imported from Vermont. The decree was for the plaintiff in respect of milk sold in the original packages, but, in respect of milk sold in bottles filled from those cans, relief was denied. See 7 F.Supp. 776, opinion on the application for interlocutory injunction.

Page 294 U. S. 518