페이지 이미지
PDF
ePub

[Chief Justice to designate circuit judge in case of equal
division.]

or disposition of said cause, or in the event that a majority of said judges shall be unable to agree upon the judgment, order, or decree finally disposing of said case in said court which should be entered in said cause, then they shall immediately certify that fact to the Chief Justice of the United States, who shall at once designate and appoint some circuit judge to sit with said judges and to assist in determining said cause. Such order of the Chief Justice shall be immediately transmitted to the clerk of the circuit court in which said cause is pending, and shall be entered upon the minutes of said court. Thereupon said cause shall at once be set down for reargument and the parties thereto notified in writing by the clerk of said court of the action of the court and the date fixed for the reargument thereof. The provisions of this section shall apply to all causes and proceedings in all courts now pending, or which may hereafter be brought

[Appeal to supreme court.]

Sec. 2. That in every suit in equity pending or hereafter brought in any circuit court of the United States under any of said Acts, wherein the United States is complainant, including cases submitted but not yet decided, an appeal from the final decree of the circuit court will lie only to the Supreme Court and must be taken within sixty days from the entry thereof: Provided, That in any case where an appeal may have been taken from the final decree of a circuit court to the circuit court of appeals before this Act takes effect the case shall proceed to a final decree therein, and an appeal may be taken from such decree to the Supreme Court in the manner now provided by law. Public, No. 82, approved February 11, 1903; Public, No. 310, approved June 25, 1910.

This Act, known as the "Expedition Act," was approved February 11, 1903, prior to the act amendatory of the Interstate Commerce Act, which was approved February 19, 1903, supra, § 422, and is therefore referred to in the third section of that act, where it is provided that the provisions of this act shall be applicable to any suit prosecuted under the direction of the attorney general in the name of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

§ 491 (350). Judicial application of act.—The summary pr› cedure provided by this act was illustrated and enforced in the Northern Securities case, which was argued in the circuit court at St. Louis before the four judges of the court in April, 1903, decided in May, 1903, appealed to the supreme court, advanced

on the docket and finally decided on the fourth day of April, 1904.

In Interstate Com. v. Baird, 194 U. S. 25, 48 L. Ed. 860, decided April 4, 1904, which was appealed directly to the supreme court from the circuit court in a proceeding instituted by Mr. Hearst before the commission, the supreme court held that the appeal was properly made to the supreme court from the circuit court, and the right of direct appeal was also applicable to proceedings to enforce the production of books and papers or the giving of testimony before the commission. The court said it was the purpose of this act of 1903 to eliminate the necessity of any appeal in the circuit court of appeals and permit the litigation to be shortened by direct appeal to the supreme court.

In Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. United States, 189 U. S. 274, 47 L. Ed. 811, decided March 9, 1903, the supreme court while holding that the circuit court had erred in refusing to sustain a demurrer of a railroad company to a bill filed by the district attorney of the United States under the direction of the attorney-general, at the instance of the Interstate Commerce Commission, also said that the act of February, 1903, expressly conferred this power to invoke the remedy of injunction, which had not heretofore existed, and as that act specifically provided that the new remedies which it created should be applicable to all cases then pending, the court therefore decided that the case would not be finally disposed of, but would be remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the provisions of this act of Feb. 19, 1903.

§ 492. Amendment of 1910.-As originally enacted in 1903, section 1 of this act did not contain the provision for calling in a circuit judge from another circuit in case of an equal division of the court, but did provide that in case of a division in opinion the case should be certified to the supreme court for review in like manner as if taken there by appeal.

In Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. v. Interstate Commerce Com., 215 U. S. 216, 54 L. Ed. 164 (1909), the court held that this provision did not authorize the sending up of the whole case, as that under the settled ruling of the court would convert the supreme court into one of original rather than appellate jurisdiction. The only construction the court, therefore, could

give to the statute under the constitution, would be to authorize the certification of questions when there was a division of opinion upon a definite point of law. The same ruling was made in the case of U. S. v. Terminal R. R. Association of St. Louis, wherein the entire case was certified to the supreme court on account of the equal division of the four judges sitting in the case. In consequence of this ruling the statute was amended in 1910 (act of June 25, 1910), by providing that when the judges were equally divided in opinion or a majority were unable to agree upon a judgment, they should certify that fact to the chief justice, who should designate some circuit judge to assist in determining the case.

§ 493. Construction of the statute.-This statute was construed by the judges of the fifth judicial circuit in Southern Pacific T. Co. et al. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 166 Fed. 134 (1908), where it was sought to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the court overruled a motion for an injunction pendente lite, one of the judges dissenting, the complainant moved the court at this stage to certify the case to the supreme court under section 2 of the act. The court said that section 16 of the Interstate Commerce Act as amended in 1906, made this expediting act apply to suits to suspend orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and required both the final hearing and the hearing for preliminary injunction to be held before three circuit judges; but there was no provision in the act requiring three circuit judges to sit in any other phases of the case than the hearing on application for preliminary injunction and on the final hearing: and the only provision for certification was in the case of a division of opinion, and there was no other provision for certification of the case in the statute, so that the motion was denied.

THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

494. The department of commerce and labor.

495. Section six of the act.

496. The remaining sections of the act.

§ 494 (351). The department of commerce and labor.-The department of labor was established by the Act of June 13, 1888. That department was placed under the jurisdiction and made part of the department of commerce and labor established by act of February 14, 1903, Sup. to Comp. Stat., page 41.

Section 1 provides for the establishment of the executive department and the secretary of commerce and labor; section 2 for an assistant secretary of commerce and labor, and other clerks; section 3 declares in general terms the province and duties of the department to foster, promote and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, the manufacture, mining, shipping and fishery industries, the labor interests and the transportation facilities of the United States, and certain appropriations are made applicable therefor; section 4 provides for the transfer of certain existing offices, etc., from the treasury and interior departments to this department, including the lighthouse establishment, steamboat inspection service, bureau of navigation, the bureau of immigration, the bureau of statistics from the treasury, and the census office from the department of the interior; section 5 establishes a bureau of manufactures making it the province and duty of the bureau to foster and develop the various manufacturing interests of the United States and markets for the same at home and abroad, domestic and foreign, by gathering, compiling and supplying all useful information concerning such markets. Consular reports are provided for. Section 6 of the act providing for a bureau of corporations is set out in full:

§ 495 (352). Bureau of Corporations-Commissioner, Deputy, etc.-SEC. 6. That there shall be in the Department of Commerce and Labor a bureau to be called the Bureau of Corporations, and a Commissioner of Corporations, who shall be the head of said bureau, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum.

There shall also be in said bureau a deputy commissioner, who shall receive a salary of three thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and who shall, in the absence of the Commissioner, act as and perform the duties of the Commissioner of Corpo rations, and who shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor or by the said Commissioner. There shall also be in the said bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, clerks, and other employees as may be authorized by law.

The said Commissioner shall have power and authority to make, under the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, diligent investigation into the orginization, conduct, and management of the business of any corporation, joint stock company, or corporate combination engaged in the commerce among the several States and with foreign nations, excepting common carriers subject to "An Act to regulate commerce," approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and to gather such information and data as will enable the President of the United States to make recommendations to Congress for legislation for the regulation of such commerce, and to report such data to the President from time to time as he shall require; and the information so obtained or as much thereof as the President may direct, shall be made public.

In order to accomplish the purposes declared in the foregoing part of this section, the said Commissioner shall have and exercise the same power and authority in respect to corporations, joint stock companies, and combinations subject to the provisions hereof, as is conferred on the Interstate Commerce Commission in said "Act to regulate commerce" and the amendments thereto, in respect to common carriers so far as the same may be applicable, including the right to subpoena and compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence and to administer oaths. All the requirements, obligations, liabilities, and immunities imposed or conferred by said "Act to regulate commerce" and by "An Act in relation to testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission," and so forth, approved February eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, supplemental to said "Act to regulate commerce, "shall also apply to all persons who may be subpoenaed to testify as witnesses or to produce documentary evidence in pursuance of the authority conferred by this section.

It shall also be the province and duty of said Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to gather, compile, publish, and supply useful information concerning corporations doing business within the limits of the United States and shall engage in interstate commerce or in

« 이전계속 »