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Full-Text Articles in Law

Recent Trends In Transport Rate Regulation, Leonard S. Goodman Jun 1972

Recent Trends In Transport Rate Regulation, Leonard S. Goodman

Michigan Law Review

The object of this Article is to describe the trends in the Commission's work during the 1960's in some of the areas of rate regulation that could not be settled by mere reference to costs, and in other areas of changing rate policy. This was a prolific period for the Commission, one that involved many rate innovations and a sense of new direction in certain aspects of rate regulation. The present discussion of the Commission's rate work is in no sense complete; and there is no intention to make it so. By emphasizing the decisions of the recent decade, I …


Regulation Of Intermodal Rate Competition In Transportation, Joseph R. Rose May 1971

Regulation Of Intermodal Rate Competition In Transportation, Joseph R. Rose

Michigan Law Review

The controversy over intermodal rate competition comprehends both legal and economic issues. Clarity requires that each be explicitly stated and separately treated. The legal issues center on the meaning of section 15a(3) of the Interstate Commerce Act and the declaration of the National Transportation Policy that precedes the Act, which are the sources of the Commission's authority. The economic issues involve the effect on resource allocation of rate-making proposals devised to carry out these provisions of the Act.


Administrative Law-Primary Jurisdiction-Availability Of Common-Law Reparations Remedy Following Commission Finding Of Unreasonable Practice Under The Motor Carrier Act, James D. Zirin Apr 1963

Administrative Law-Primary Jurisdiction-Availability Of Common-Law Reparations Remedy Following Commission Finding Of Unreasonable Practice Under The Motor Carrier Act, James D. Zirin

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner delivered goods to respondent, a common carrier by motor vehicle, for shipment from Buffalo, New York, to New York City, with the route of shipment left unspecified. The goods were shipped over the carrier's interstate route at a higher tariff filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission rather than over its intrastate route at the lower tariff filed with the New York Public Service Commission. Alleging causes of action under the Motor Carrier Act and at common law, the petitioner brought a postshipment action in a federal district court seeking reparation of the difference paid. The court, after a …


Administrative Law-Judicial Control-Injunctive Extension Of The Rate Suspension Period Under The Interstate Commerce Act, John Eppel Jan 1963

Administrative Law-Judicial Control-Injunctive Extension Of The Rate Suspension Period Under The Interstate Commerce Act, John Eppel

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs, two interstate carriers and a municipal corporation, and defendants, four railroad companies, were parties to an investigation and suspension proceeding before the Interstate Commerce Commission. Section 15(7) of the Interstate Commerce Act allows the Commission to suspend the effectiveness of rate revisions proposed by carriers for seven months while it is deciding whether to approve them. If no decision is reached by the end of the suspension period, the proposed rates automatically become effective subject to a subsequent determination of their validity by the ICC. Expiration of the order suspending defendants' rate proposals was imminent when, in an unprecedented …


Labor Law - Norris - Laguardia Act - Federal Courts Without Jurisdiction To Enjoin Strike In Support Of Demand That No Jobs Be Abolished Without Railiway Union's Consent, David G. Hill Jan 1961

Labor Law - Norris - Laguardia Act - Federal Courts Without Jurisdiction To Enjoin Strike In Support Of Demand That No Jobs Be Abolished Without Railiway Union's Consent, David G. Hill

Michigan Law Review

Respondent railroad sought authority from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to reduce the number of its station agents. Petitioner union not only contested but also demanded of the railroad that the following provision be added to the existing collective bargaining agreement: "No position in existence on December 3, 1957, will be abolished or discontinued except by agreement between the carrier and the organization." The commission thereafter found maintenance of the particular jobs to be wasteful and issued a mandatory order directing their abandonment. When the union prepared to strike in support of its demanded contract provision, the railroad sought …


Administrative Law - Powers Of Agencies - The Interstate Commerce Commission And Discontinuance Of Railroads Under The Transportation Act Of 1958, Robert A. Smith Jun 1959

Administrative Law - Powers Of Agencies - The Interstate Commerce Commission And Discontinuance Of Railroads Under The Transportation Act Of 1958, Robert A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

The Transportation Act of 1958 amended the Interstate Commerce Act by authorizing railroad discontinuance of interstate train or ferry operations by posting advance notices thereof. The Interstate Commerce Commission can investigate such discontinuances either upon complaint or its own motion, and may require continuance of service if, after hearing, it finds such operation required by public convenience and necessity and not unduly burdensome to interstate commerce. Public Law 85-625, August 12, 1958, 72 Stat. 568.


Antitrust Considerations In Motor Carrier Mergers, Carl H. Fulda Jun 1958

Antitrust Considerations In Motor Carrier Mergers, Carl H. Fulda

Michigan Law Review

Unification of separate independent business enterprises in a single organization may raise important questions of antitrust policy. The entity which emerges may have acquired, as a result of such unification, a market position of such significance that a substantial lessening of competition or even the creation of a monopoly becomes not only possible but probable. This would be apparent whenever opportunities for buyers of the products or services of the new single unit to shop freely, and to make independent decisions as to prices, channels of purchases and selection of suppliers were to be seriously curtailed, or where such curtailment …


Bankruptcy-Jurisdiction Of Bankruptcy Court To Determine Stockholders' Vote Necessary To Approve Proposed Sale Of Corporation's Assets To Debtor In Reorganization, Bernard Goldstone S. Ed. May 1949

Bankruptcy-Jurisdiction Of Bankruptcy Court To Determine Stockholders' Vote Necessary To Approve Proposed Sale Of Corporation's Assets To Debtor In Reorganization, Bernard Goldstone S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Lessee railroad, which had leased and operated property of lessor railroad for many years, entered reorganization under section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act. Under the plan of reorganization promulgated by the Interstate Commerce Commission and approved by the bankruptcy court, lessor was given the alternative of selling its property to the reorganized railroad or having the lease disaffirmed by the debtor and its property returned. This proposal was submitted for acceptance by a majority vote of lessor's stockholders. Respondents, stockholders of lessor, sought an injunction in a state court of Georgia to restrain lessor's officers from certifying the acceptance in …


Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Carriers-Validity Of State Statute Requiring Racial Segregation Of Passengers, George Brody S.Ed. Dec 1946

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Carriers-Validity Of State Statute Requiring Racial Segregation Of Passengers, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a passenger on a motor common carrier, was traveling from Virginia to Baltimore. Pursuant to a Virginia statute requiring all passenger motor carrier vehicles to "separate without discrimination the white and colored passengers in their motor busses so that contiguous seats will not be occupied by persons of different races at the same time" the driver of the carrier upon which appellant was traveling requested her to vacate her seat so that it could be used by a white passenger. She refused and was arrested and convicted under authority of a statute punishing such refusal. The Virginia Supreme Court …


Carriers - Motor Carrier Act - Contract Carrier Permits Under The "Grandfather Clause", William H. Shipley, Jay W. Sorge Aug 1942

Carriers - Motor Carrier Act - Contract Carrier Permits Under The "Grandfather Clause", William H. Shipley, Jay W. Sorge

Michigan Law Review

The Rosenblum Truck Lines and Manhattan Truck Lines applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for contract carrier permits under the so-called "grandfather clause" of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935. Prior to July 1, 1935, the applicants hauled only for common carriers by motor vehicle and, in each case, principally for a single common carrier. The freight so handled was always solicited by a common carrier and accumulated at its terminal. The applicants carried only the overflow freight, employing their own insurance and paying their own operating and maintenance costs. The Interstate Commerce Commission's finding that the applicants' equipment was …


Interstate Commerce - Motor Carrier Act Of 1935 - Power Of States To Regulate Interstate Carriers As To Sizes And Weight, Spencer E. Lrons Feb 1941

Interstate Commerce - Motor Carrier Act Of 1935 - Power Of States To Regulate Interstate Carriers As To Sizes And Weight, Spencer E. Lrons

Michigan Law Review

The Motor Carrier Act of 1935 provides, in section 204 (a) (1) and (2), that the Interstate Commerce Commission, in performing its duty of regulating interstate motor carriers, shall have power to "establish reasonable requirements with respect to . . . safety of operation and equipment." In section 225, the act authorizes the commission "to investigate and report on the need for Federal regulation of the sizes and weight of motor vehicles. . . ." These two sections, when read together, indicate that Congress felt that sizes and weight regulations deserved consideration apart from general safety regulations. The former are …


Railroads - Reorganization - Validity Of Conditioning Approval Of A Consolidation By Reference To Proper Treatment Of Employees, Kenneth J. Nordstrom Dec 1940

Railroads - Reorganization - Validity Of Conditioning Approval Of A Consolidation By Reference To Proper Treatment Of Employees, Kenneth J. Nordstrom

Michigan Law Review

A railroad made application to the Interstate Commerce Commission to obtain authorization to lease the lines of another railroad. The relevant federal statute provided that the commission should authorize consolidations and leases subject to such terms and conditions as it should find just and reasonable and as would promote the public interest. Accordingly, the commission conditioned approval of the lease by requiring that employees dismissed as a result of the lease be paid monthly allowances for fixed periods, or until securing re-employment; that those not dismissed be protected against any decrease in wages for five years, and reimbursed for expenses …


Constitutional Law - Carriers - Supersedure Of State Regulations By Federal Regulations - Regulation Of Hours Of Service Of Motor Vehicular Drivers - Effect Of Federal Motor Carrier Act Of 1935, Fred C. Newman Nov 1939

Constitutional Law - Carriers - Supersedure Of State Regulations By Federal Regulations - Regulation Of Hours Of Service Of Motor Vehicular Drivers - Effect Of Federal Motor Carrier Act Of 1935, Fred C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, whose business was chiefly interstate, violated a statute of New Hampshire which regulated the hours of service of drivers of certain motor vehicles. The violation occurred after the passage of the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1935, which, among other things, conferred authority upon the Interstate Commerce Commission "to establish reasonable requirements with respect to . . . maximum hours of service of employees" of common and contract carriers by motor vehicle in interstate commerce. At the time of the breach of the state statute, the Interstate Commerce Commission had not prescribed regulations as to hours of service. Defendant …


Expansion Of Federal Supervision Of Securities Through The Inquisitional And Census Powers Of Congress-A Suggestion, Kenneth Rush Jan 1938

Expansion Of Federal Supervision Of Securities Through The Inquisitional And Census Powers Of Congress-A Suggestion, Kenneth Rush

Michigan Law Review

The Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act, principally through the means of compulsory disclosure of information, are intended to aid the investing public in evaluating securities and to prevent the undue influencing of their value, market price and sale. These ends are undoubtedly worth seeking in their entirety, but such is the nature of our federal system that the acts, being founded upon the powers of Congress over the facilities of interstate commerce and of the mails, purport to relate only to transactions in securities involving use of those facilities.


Uniform Corporation Laws Through Interstate Compacts And Federal Legislation, Robert S. Stevens Jun 1936

Uniform Corporation Laws Through Interstate Compacts And Federal Legislation, Robert S. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of the present article to suggest that another means of accomplishing the end exists in the possibility of an interstate compact for uniform corporate legislation, coupled with supplementary federal legislation appropriate to make the interstate compact effective.


Administrative Law - Statutory Interpretation - Conclusiveness Of Decision Nov 1934

Administrative Law - Statutory Interpretation - Conclusiveness Of Decision

Michigan Law Review

Pursuant to an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the government had paid defendant $487,116.31 as the deficit incurred during federal control and due defendant under section 204 of the Transportation Act of 1920. The Commission later reopened the proceeding and annulled the order because it had erroneously interpreted the word "deficit" in the statute to mean a decrease in net railroad operating income in the federal control period as compared with the corresponding months of the test period from July 1, 1914, to June 30, 1917, instead of a "red ink deficit." The government then sued to recover the …


The Evolution And Devolution Of Public Utility Law, Edwin C. Goddard Mar 1934

The Evolution And Devolution Of Public Utility Law, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

As long ago as 1873, and very likely even earlier, courts were speaking of the public utility in the sense of the public convenience or advantage, a New Jersey court saying, "these prerogatives (of railway corporations) are grants from the government, and public utility is the consideration for them." This has been often quoted by other courts, notably by your Judge Atherton in the famous case of Scofield v. Railway in 1885. But the term "public utility'' as applied to plants or corporations rendering a public service is very new. It is not to be found in the 1904 edition …


Constitutional Law-Right To Competition Feb 1934

Constitutional Law-Right To Competition

Michigan Law Review

The appellee was engaged in the business of selling natural gas. A rival utility entered the field duplicating the plant and facilities of the appellee and established with the consent of the Public Service Commission a rate lower than the prevailing rate charged by the appellee. In an attempt to retain its customers against the lower prices of its competitor the appellee lowered its rate several times. The appellants finally ordered the appellee to submit evidence as to the reasonableness of its rates. Upon investigation the Public Service Commission found that the business in the territory was capable of supporting …


State Taxation Of Interstate Motor Carriers, Paul G. Kauper Nov 1933

State Taxation Of Interstate Motor Carriers, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Although in point of years motor carrier transportation is in .ll. its infant stage, it has exhibited such prodigious growth as to take rank today as a business of huge proportions. In 1932 there were in the United States about 40,000 motor vehicles engaged in common carrier passenger service. Their operations for the year produced a gross revenue of $348,000,000, as compared with $612,000,000, produced by electric railway passenger operations, and $376,000,000, produced by steam railroad passenger operations.


The Emergency Railroad Transportation Act, 1933, Edwin C. Goddard Jun 1933

The Emergency Railroad Transportation Act, 1933, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

From Munn v. Illinois to the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act of 1933 has been a long journey traveled by the public and the public utilities, notably the largest public utility, the railroads. In 1876 the very term "public utility" was unknown. The idea that the public could break in on laissez faire and regulate any business was to the persons regulated, and to their lawyers, odious. With them agreed Justices Field, Brewer, Peckham, and many another, who predicted that the public would not long tolerate such interference with business. But prophecy is hazardous, and these prophets were wrong.


Constitutional Law - The Delegation Of Federal Legislative Power To Executive Or Administrative Agencies Apr 1933

Constitutional Law - The Delegation Of Federal Legislative Power To Executive Or Administrative Agencies

Michigan Law Review

The range of governmental activity, ever expanding both because of the adoption of new functions and because of the increase in proportions of the old, has developed a frequent need for supervision by specialized administrative agencies. In addition to the normal trend toward increased administrative control, present-day economic difficulties have provided additional impetus in that direction. Hence the question of how far Congress can go in turning over its duties to executive or administrative agencies has become of immediate and vital concern.


Carriers - Allocation Of Rate Charges On Cost Basis Feb 1932

Carriers - Allocation Of Rate Charges On Cost Basis

Michigan Law Review

In a proceeding in equity to secure the annulment of an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission fixing the cost of icing, for shipments of poultry and dairy products originating in the six western states, on the "cost of ice" basis already existing in the other forty-two states, it was held that the rate is reasonable if it furnishes reasonable and adequate return for service rendered, and such return must pay cost of that service as distinguished from all other service, plus reasonable profit thereon; but that, in arriving at this "cost of ice" rate, the Interstate Commerce Commission was …


Carriers-Transportation Of Private Cars-Deviation From Rates In Filed Tariffs May 1931

Carriers-Transportation Of Private Cars-Deviation From Rates In Filed Tariffs

Michigan Law Review

Complainants instituted this suit to set aside an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission prohibiting the transportation of private passenger train cars, including so-called office cars of other carriers, free or at other than published tariff rates. Held, the transportation of a private or office car of another carrier is subject to the filed tariffs which "apply to all traffic transportation and facilities" defined in the Interstate Commerce Act. L. & N. R. Co. and others v. United States, U. S. Sup. Ct. 1931, Adv. Op. No. 333, 51 Sup. Ct. 39.


Review: Watkins On Shippers And Carriers, Chas. E. Cullen May 1931

Review: Watkins On Shippers And Carriers, Chas. E. Cullen

Michigan Law Review

A Book Review on WATKINS ON SHIPPERS AND CARRIERS Fourth edition by Edgar Watkins assisted by J. Halden Alldredge.


Carriers-Division Of Joint Rates Feb 1931

Carriers-Division Of Joint Rates

Michigan Law Review

The divisions here involved were those to be made in joint rates between points in southwestern territory and those in western trunk-line territory, or via western territory to and from eastern points. The line between western and southwestern territory passes through St. Louis and other Missouri and Illinois towns. The divisions of these joint rates between the carriers in these territories had been in existence for many years and were without uniform or rational basis. The Interstate Commerce Commission, investigating these divisions, found them more favor able to southwestern lines than present circumstances justified. Conditions in southwestern territory had become …


Administrative Tribunals-Operation Of Administrative Orders As Res Judicata Apr 1929

Administrative Tribunals-Operation Of Administrative Orders As Res Judicata

Michigan Law Review

To the layman res judicata is simply another one of those esoteric legal subterfuges by which lawyers evade the simple facts and win lawsuits for their clients. So he shrugs his shoulders at the whole silly business and confines his interest in the law to the dramatic trio: great crimes, great names, and great figures. To the lawyer, principle is dominant. Though he may quibble over its spelling, he recognizes res judicata as a sound working principle and is interested in the popular case mainly because good legal talent will be employed, capable arguments presented, and sound decisions reached.


Public Utility Valuation For Rate Making Purposes Nov 1927

Public Utility Valuation For Rate Making Purposes

Michigan Law Review

Ever since Munn v. Illinois (1876) 94 U. S. 113, which first decided that the charges to be made for services rendered by public utilities were to be subject to governmental regulation, the courts have been confronted with a problem, so elusive and indefinite, that over five decades of litigation and wrangling have failed to provide a satisfactory solution. The so called "rule" of Smyth v. Ames (1898) 169 U. S. 466, specifying the elements to be considered in ascertaining the value of public utilities for the purpose of rate-making, has only served to submerge the problem further in its …


Compulsory Construction Of New Lines Of Railroad, Kenneth F. Burgess May 1922

Compulsory Construction Of New Lines Of Railroad, Kenneth F. Burgess

Michigan Law Review

In the half century of public regulation of railroads in the United States, regulatory legislation has dealt primarily with functions incident to the operation of existing enterprises. The basic concept has been that railroad corporations as common carriers have voluntarily assumed obligations to the public which the public has a right to require to be performed.


Net Income And Judicial Economics, Henry Rottschaefer Apr 1922

Net Income And Judicial Economics, Henry Rottschaefer

Michigan Law Review

A legal system does not function in a vacuum of abstractions. It is part of a general institutional framework of an organized society. Its content is determined by concrete individual and social needs and activities. Hence modern jurisprudence conceives of law as a means for securing interests. The appraisal of its rules and principles requires an evaluation of the significant elements of the situation to which they apply. A narrow, complacent formalism is the penalty of failure in this regard. No one would deny the emphasis modern society places upor its commercial and industrial interests, nor the many points of …


Reasonable Rates, Henry Hull Apr 1917

Reasonable Rates, Henry Hull

Michigan Law Review

The principles underlying the decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission are, for the most part, admittedly sound principles, and their number is not inordinately great. But to lawyers, and students of law, the application of these principles seems, in casual reading, to be made as whim or fancy dictates. It is a frequent complaint of the lawyer that there is no law in rate decisions.