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Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Comm’n, 251 U.S. 228 (1920)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Comm’n, 251 U.S. 228 (1920)
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Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Commission of California No. 219 Argued December 12, 1919 Decided January 5, 1920 251 U.S. 228
ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Syllabus
If, in the beginning or during its subsequent operation, a pipeline is devoted by its owner to the use of the public in transporting oil for hire, and if the right thus extended to the public has not been withdrawn, the pipeline is a public utility and its owner a common carrier whose rates and practices may be subjected to state regulation consistently with the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 230.
The following grounds, relied on by the state court, have adequate support in the evidence and sustain its conclusion that the plaintiff in error had devoted its pipeline to public use, viz: (1) authority in articles of incorporation to establish and carry on a general transportation business for transporting any oils produced by the pipeline company or others; (2) acquisition of part of its right of way through eminent domain proceedings, admissible only, under the state law, if the condemnation was for a public use and was by an "agent of the state," and averments in such proceedings by the condemnor that it was a common carrier seeking the right of way for a public use; (3) transportation in substance for all producers seeking the service, though done in form through an intermediate agency and a system of contract, it appearing that membership in such agency was readily obtained and had not been refused. P. 231.
A common carrier cannot, by making contract for future transportation, prevent or postpone the exertion by a state of the power to regulate the carrier’s rate and practice. P. 232.
Nor does the contract clause of the Constitution interpose any obstacle to the exertion of that power. Id.
176 Cal. 499 affirmed.
The case is stated in the opinion.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Comm’n, 251 U.S. 228 (1920) in 251 U.S. 228 251 U.S. 229. Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2717BULYUAGNQXY.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Comm’n, 251 U.S. 228 (1920), in 251 U.S. 228, page 251 U.S. 229. Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2717BULYUAGNQXY.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Producers Transportation Co. v. Railroad Comm’n, 251 U.S. 228 (1920). cited in 1920, 251 U.S. 228, pp.251 U.S. 229. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2717BULYUAGNQXY.
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