HKB
THE HEPBURN ACT
No act ever passed by Congress was more destructive of legislation on the State statute books than the Hepburn Act of 1906,[977] amending the Interstate Commerce Act. Thus a State statute which, while prohibiting a railway from giving free passes or free transportation, authorized the issuance of transportation in payment for printing and advertising, was found to conflict with the unqualified prohibition by Congress of free interstate transportation.[978] Likewise, a State statute which penalized a carrier for refusing to receive freight for transportation whenever tendered at a regular station was found to conflict with the Congressional provision that no carrier "shall engage or participate in the transportation of passengers or property, as defined in this act, unless the rates, fares, and charges upon which the same are transported by said carrier have been filed and published in accordance with the provisions of this act."[979] In enacting this provision, the Court found, Congress had intended to occupy the entire field. In a third case, it was held that the Hepburn Act had put it outside the power of a State to regulate the delivery of cars for interstate shipments;[980] and on the same ground, a State statute authorizing recovery of a penalty for delay in giving notice of the arrival of freight was disallowed;[981] as was also the similar rule of a State railroad commission with respect to failure to deliver freight at depots and warehouses within a stated time limit.[982] And in Adams Express Co. v. Croninger[983] it was sweepingly ruled that the so-called Carmack Amendment to the Hepburn Act, which puts the responsibility for loss of, or injury to, cargo upon the initial carrier, had superseded all State statutes limiting recovery for loss or injury to goods in transportation to an agreed or declared value. Substantially contemporaneous with these holdings were others in which the Court ruled that the federal Employers' Liability Act of 1908, as amended in 1910;[984] the federal Hours of Service Act (Railroads) of 1907;[985] and the federal Safety Appliance Acts of 1893, as amended in 1903[986] superseded all State legislation dealing with the same subjects so far as such legislation affected interstate commerce.[987] However, the States were still able to regulate the time and manner of payment of the employees of railroads, including those engaged in interstate commerce,[988] Congress having not legislated on the subject.
QUARANTINE CASES