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employees of a single employer the right to select one of the petitioners as their exclusive bargaining representative.

The Court of Appeals dismissed the petition as not within the jurisdiction to review orders of the Board conferred upon it by § 10 of the Wagner Act. 103 F. 2d 933. We granted certiorari October 9, 1939, because of the importance of the question presented and to resolve an alleged conflict of the decision below with that of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. National Labor Relations Board, 105 F. 2d 598.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, like the several circuit courts of appeals, is without the jurisdiction over original suits conferred on district courts by § 24 of the Judicial Code, as amended. 28 U. S. C., § 41. Such jurisdiction as it has, to review directly the action of administrative agencies, is specially conferred by legislation relating specifically to the determinations of such agencies made subject to review, and prescribing the manner and extent of the review. Here, the provisions of the Wagner Act, § 10 (f), which gives a right of review to "any person aggrieved by a final order of the Board," determines the nature and scope of the review by the court of appeals.

The single issue which we are now called on to decide is whether the certification by the Board is an "order" which, by related provisions of the statute, is made reviewable upon petition to the Court of Appeals for the District or in an appropriate case to a circuit court of appeals. The question is distinct from another much argued at the Bar, whether petitioners are precluded by the provisions of the Wagner Act from maintaining an independent suit in a district court to set aside the Board's action because contrary to the statute, and be

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cause it inflicts on petitioners an actionable injury otherwise irreparable.

By the provisions of the Wagner Act the Board is given two principal functions to perform. One, defined by § 9, which as enacted is headed "Representatives and Elections," is the certification, after appropriate investigation and hearing, of the name or names of representatives, for collective bargaining, of an appropriate unit of employees. The other, defined by § 10, which as enacted is headed "Prevention of Unfair Labor Practices," is the prevention by the Board's order after hearing and by a further appropriate proceeding in court, of the unfair labor practices enumerated in § 8. One of the outlawed practices is the refusal of an employer to bargain with the representative of his employees. § 8 (5).

Certification involves, under § 9 (b), decision by the Board whether "the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining shall be the employer unit, craft unit, plant unit, or subdivision thereof," and the ascertainment by the Board under § 9 (c) of the bargaining representative who, under § 9 (a) must be "designated or selected .. by the majority of the employees in the unit appropriate for such [bargaining] purposes." The Board is authorized by §9 (c) "whenever a question affecting commerce arises concerning the representation of employees" to investigate "such controversy" and to certify the names of the appropriate bargaining representatives. In conducting the investigation it is required to provide for appropriate hearing upon due notice "and may take a secret ballot of employees, or utilize any other suitable method" of ascertaining such representatives. By §9 (d) whenever an order of the Board is made pursuant to § 10 (c) directing any person to cease an unfair labor practice and there is a petition for enforcement or review of the order by a court the

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Board's "certification and the record of such investigation" is to be included in the transcript of the entire record required to be filed under § 10 (e) or (f), and the decree of the court enforcing, modifying or setting aside the order of the Board is to be made and entered upon the pleadings, testimony and proceedings set forth in the transcript.

It is to be noted that § 9, which is complete in itself, makes no provision, in terms, for review of a certification by the Board and authorizes no use of the certification or of the record in a certification proceeding, except in the single case where there is a petition for enforcement or review of an order restraining an unfair labor practice as authorized by § 10 (c). In that event the record in the certification proceeding is included in the record brought up on review of the Board's order restraining an unfair labor practice. It then becomes a part of the record upon which the decree of the reviewing court is to be based.

All other provisions for review of any action of the Board are found in § 10 which as its heading indicates relates to the prevention of unfair labor practices. Nowhere in this section is there mention of investigations or certifications authorized and defined by § 9. Section 10 (a) authorizes the Board "to prevent any person from engaging in any unfair labor practice (listed in section 8) affecting commerce." Section 10 (b) prescribes the procedure of the Board when any person is charged with engaging in any unfair labor practice, and requires that the person so charged shall be served with a complaint and notice of hearing by the Board with opportunity to file an answer and be heard. Section 10 (c) directs the Board, if it is of opinion, as the result of the proceedings before it, that any person named in the complaint has engaged in an unfair labor practice "to issue" "an order" directing that person to cease the practice and command

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ing appropriate affirmative action. If the Board is of opinion that there has been no unfair labor practice it is directed "to issue" "an order" dismissing the complaint. Section 10 (e) authorizes a petition to the appropriate federal court of appeals by the Board for the enforcement of its order prohibiting an unfair labor practice.

This brings us to the provisions for review of action taken by the Board in § 10 (f) which is controlling in the present proceeding. That subdivision' appears as an integral part of § 10. All the other subdivisions relate exclusively to proceedings for the prevention of unfair labor practices. Both they and subdivision (f) are silent as to the proceedings or certifications authorized by § 9. Section 10 (f), providing for review, speaks only of a "final order of the Board." It gives a right to review to persons aggrieved by a final order upon petition to a court of appeals in the circuit "wherein the unfair labor prac

"(f) Any person aggrieved by a final order of the Board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought may obtain a review of such order in any circuit court of appeals of the United States in the circuit wherein the unfair labor practice in question was alleged to have been engaged in or wherein such person resides or transacts business, or in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, by filing in such court a written petition praying that the order of the Board be modified or set aside. A copy of such petition shall be forthwith served 'upon the Board, and thereupon the aggrieved party shall file in the court a transcript of the entire record in the proceeding, certified by the Board, including the pleading and testimony upon which the order complained of was entered and the findings and order of the Board. Upon such filing, the court shall proceed in the same manner as in the case of an application by the Board under subsection (e), and shall have the same exclusive jurisdiction to grant to the Board such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper, and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, and enforcing as so modified, or setting aside in whole or in part the order of the Board; and the findings of the Board as to the facts, if supported by evidence, shall in like manner be conclusive."

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tice in question was alleged to have been engaged in or wherein such person resides or transacts business, or in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia." It directs that the order shall be reviewed on the entire record before the Board "including the pleadings and testimony" upon which the order complained of was entered, although no complaint or other pleading is mentioned by 9 relating to representation proceedings and certificates. Subdivision (f) provides that upon petition for review by an aggrieved person "the court shall proceed in the same manner as in the case of an application by the Board under subdivision (e)," and it is given the same jurisdiction "to grant to the Board such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper, and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, and enforcing as so modified, or setting aside in whole or in part the order of the Board." See, Ford Motor Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 305 U. S. 364, 369.

In analyzing the provisions of the statute in order to ascertain its true meaning, we attribute little importance to the fact that the certification does not itself command action. Administrative determinations which are not commands may for all practical purposes determine rights as effectively as the judgment of a court, and may be reëxamined by courts under particular statutes providing for the review of "orders." See Rochester Telephone Corp. v. United States, 307 U. S. 125, 130, 135, et seq.; Federal Power Comm'n v. Pacific Power & Light Co., 307 U. S. 156. We must look rather to the language of the statute, read in the light of its purpose and its legislative history, to ascertain whether the "order" for which the review in court is provided, is contrasted with forms of administrative action differently described as a purposeful means of excluding them from the review provisions.