Capital City Dairy Co. v. Ohio, 183 U.S. 238 (1902)

Capital City Dairy Company v. Ohio

No. 95

Argued April 19, 22, 1901
Decided January 6, 1902
183 U.S. 238

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF OHIO

Syllabus

The judgment of the state court in this case was based upon the consideration given by it to all the asserted violations of the statutes jointly, and hence no one of the particular violations can be said, when considered independently, to be alone adequate to sustain the conclusions of the court below that a judgment of ouster should be entered.

The contention that the statutes of Ohio in question are repugnant to the commerce clause of the Constitution is without merit. Those statutes were, the act of 1884, the act of 1886, and the act of 1890, all referred to in the opinion, and all relating to the sale of drugs or articles of food, and especially oleomargarine.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution operates solely on the national government, and not on the states.

The Legislature of Ohio had the lawful power to enact the statutes in question, and so far as they related to the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine within the Ohio by a corporation created by the laws of Ohio, they were not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.

This Court, on error to a state court, cannot consider an alleged federal question, when it appears that the federal right thus relied upon had not been, by adequate specification, called to the attention of the state court, and had not been considered by it, it not being necessarily involved in the determination of the cause.

The case is stated in the opinion of the Court.