Highland v. Russell Car & Snow Plow Co., 279 U.S. 253 (1929)

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Highland v. Russell Car & Snow Plow Co.

No. 8

Argued February 23, 24, 1929
Decided April 8, 1929
279 U.S. 253

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Syllabus

1. An order of the President, under the Lever Act, fixing a maximum price on coal during the late war, when the railroads were under government control and when there was need of such price regulation in the interest of national safety, was a valid exercise of the power of the government, and not a violation of the Fifth Amendment as applied to one selling coal to a manufacturer of railroad snow-plows, the coal being liable in the circumstances to expropriation by the government, and the price fixed being such as to afford the just compensation safeguarded by that amendment. Pp. 258, 262.

2. Congress may regulate the making and performance of private contracts when reasonably necessary to effect any of the great purposes for which the national government was created. P. 261.

3. Congress and the President, in the exercise of the war power, have wide discretion as to the means to be employed, and the measures here challenged are supported by a strong presumption of validity, and may not be set aside unless clearly shown to be arbitrary and repugnant to the Constitution. P. 261.

288 Pa. 230 affirmed.

Certiorari, 274 U.S. 731, to review a judgment of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania sustaining a judgment for the defendant -- the present respondent in petitioner’s action for a balance alleged to be due on sales of coal. The judgment of the trial court was affirmed by the Superior Court, 87 Pa.Superior Ct. 237, which was affirmed, in turn, by the court below.