Thornton v. United States, 271 U.S. 414 (1926)

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Thornton v. United States


No. 255


Argued April 20, 1926
Decided June 1, 1926
271 U.S. 414

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. Regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture issued pursuant to statute are noticed judicially. P. 418.

2. Under the Acts governing the subject, it is not essential to the validity of regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture respecting livestock diseases that the regulations be certified to, or accepted by, the state. P. 422.

3. An indictment for conspiracy to commit the offense, under § 62 of the Penal Code, of interfering with and assaulting agents of the Bureau of Animal Industry while discharging their duties in supervising and causing the dipping of cattle to prevent the spread of a contagious disease, and charging the use of deadly weapons, need not allege that the cattle dipped were subject matter of interstate commerce, that they had come under the supervision or control of the Secretary of Agriculture, or that the agents were working to prevent the disease from spreading from one state to another. P. 423.

4. Congress has power (as in the Animal Industry Act and subsequent legislation) to provide measures for quarantining and disinfecting cattle in a state to prevent spread of disease to other states. P. 424.

5. The ranging of cattle across a state line is interstate commerce, as well as driving them across, or transporting them by rail. P. 425.

6. Spread of disease from state to state by ranging cattle is a burden on interstate commerce which Congress may prevent. Id.

2 F.2d 561 affirmed.

Certiorari to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals affirming a conviction in the district court for conspiracy to violate § 62 of the Penal Code.