776 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



subject of a decision. The law had been amended 

 after the Supreme Court decision in Scott vs. Don- 

 ald (165 U. S. 58) and changed in many important 

 particulars. The new law attempted to eliminate 

 the features of the old law discriminating against 

 other States in the shipment of liquor to individ- 

 uals for their own use in South Carolina ; but while 

 this inhibition was eliminated and the privilege 

 restored in the new law, it was coupled with con- 

 ditions of inspection which it was urged still 

 amounted to discrimination. The court accepted 

 this view of the case, holding that the inspection 

 provision of the law was tantamount to a denial of 

 the right of interstate commerce, and therefore an- 

 tagonistic to the Constitution of the United States. 

 The court held, however, that the portion of law 

 regulating the sale of original packages within the 

 State was valid. Chief-Justice Fuller and Justices 

 Shiras and McKenna dissented as to a portion of 

 the opinion. They took the position that the law 

 in its entirety is in violation of the Constitution. 



Suicide. In the case of Bitter vs. Mutual Life 

 Insurance Company of New York, decided Jan. 17, 

 1898, the question whether the heirs of a man who 

 commits suicide when in sound mind can recover 

 an insurance policy, was involved. Mr. Bunk, of 

 Philadelphia, committed suicide within a year after 

 increasing his insurance to the extent of $200,000, 

 making an aggregate insurance of $500,000 upon his 

 life. The New York company carried $75,000, 

 which it refused to pay, on the ground that Bunk 

 was sane when he took his life. It was shown that 

 he had written a letter the day before his death, say- 

 ing that it was his purpose to put an end to his life 

 so that his life insurance money could be collected 

 for the payment of his debts. The court held that 

 no insured person committing suicide and found 

 to be of sound mind could recover upon his policy. 



Oleomargarine. In the cases of Schallenberger 

 vs. Pennsylvania and Collins vs. New Hampshire 

 the court, May 23, 1898, decided the oleomargarine 

 laws of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire to be un- 

 constitutional. In Pennsylvania George Schallen- 

 berger, George E. Paul, and J. Otis Paul were prose- 

 cuted in the State courts on the charge of violating 

 the law prohibiting the introduction of oleomarga- 

 rine into the State. The court held the law to be 

 invalid under the Federal Constitution, on the 

 ground that it infringed the provision in regard to 

 interstate commerce. Justice Peckham, in deliver- 

 ing the opinion, said : " The act of the Legislature 

 of Pennsylvania under consideration, to the extent 

 that it prohibits the introduction of oleomargarine 

 from another State and its sale in the original pack- 

 age, as described in the special verdict, is invalid." 

 In New Hampshire the law provides that when the 

 oleomargarine is colored pink there shall be no 

 prohibition. Justice Peckham said this was a 

 mere evasion of the direct prohibition contained in 

 the Pennsylvania statute, and was invalid on the 

 same ground. Justices Harlan and Gray dissented. 



Freight Rate Law. March 7, 1898, the court de- 

 cided the cases of Smyth vs. Ames, Smyth vs. 

 Smith, and Smyth vs. Higginson. These suits 

 were instituted to test the validity of a law passed 

 by the Nebraska Legislature in 1893, prescribing 

 the maximum rates for transportation of freight 

 by railroads within the State. The law was de- 

 clared unconstitutional. It is settled that a rail- 

 road corporation is a person within the meaning of 

 the fourteenth amendment declaring that no 

 State shall deprive any person of property without 

 due process of law, nor deny to any person within its 

 jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. A 

 State enactment, or regulations made under the 

 authority of a State enactment, establishing rates 

 for the transportation of persons or property by 



railroad that will not admit of the carrier earning 

 such compensation as under all circumstances is 

 just to it and to the public, would deprive such 

 carrier of its property without due process of law, 

 and deny to it the equal protection of the laws, 

 and would therefore be repugnant to the four- 

 teenth amendment to the Constitution of the 

 United States. 



The Eight-Hour Law. The case of Hold en i's. 

 Hardin involved the constitutionality of the law of 

 Utah fixing a day's work in mines and smelters at 

 eight hours a day. It was held that the provisions 

 of the law did not violate the fourteenth amend- 

 ment to the Constitution, and were a valid exercise 

 of the police power of the State. Justice Brown 

 said that, in his opinion, it was not the intention of 

 the court to pass generally upon the constitutional- 

 ity of eight-hour laws; but that in so far as State 

 laws were exerted for the protection of the lives. 

 the health, or the morals of a community there 

 could be no doubt of their propriety or of their con- 

 stitutionality. There could be no doubt of the ex- 

 ceptional and unhealthful character of work in 

 smelters or mines, because of bad air, high tem- 

 perature, and obnoxious gases ; and hence the wisdom 

 of the State legislation. Justices Brewer and Peck- 

 ham dissented. 



Inheritance Tax. The case of Magoun vs. Illi- 

 nois Trust and Savings Bank, decided April 25, 

 1898, involved the constitutionality of the inherit- 

 ance tax law of Illinois. One of the counsel for 

 the defendant was ex-President Harrison. The 

 State of Illinois imposed an inheritance tax which 

 varied according to the amount of the legacy and 

 according to the degree of relationship of the 

 legatee. The question was decided in favor of the 

 constitutionality of the law. and is a matter of na- 

 tional interest, as it has a bearing upon similar 

 legislation in other States. Justice Brewer dis- 

 sented from the opinion so far as it sustained the 

 constitutionality of that part of the law which 

 grades the rate of the tax upon legacies to strangers 

 by the amount of such legacies. 



Inspection Laws. The court, May 31, has de- 

 cided the case of the Patapsco Guano Company vs. 

 North Carolina Board of. Agriculture. The case 

 involved the validity of the North Carolina law 

 providing for the inspection of fertilizers, and 

 sought to enjoin the collection of the charge for 

 such inspections. The opinion sustained the law. 

 Inspection laws are not in themselves regulations 

 of commerce. When their object is to protect the 

 community, they come within the police power of 

 the State. Justices Harlan and White dissented. 



Contracts with Railroad Companies. The case 

 of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway 

 Company vs. Solan involved the constitutionality of 

 the Iowa law rendering void any contract with a 

 railroad company exempting it from liability which 

 would have existed if no contract had been made. 

 Solan sued in the State courts to recover dan 

 for injuries suffered, and was awarded $1,000, 

 although his contract with the company limited it> 

 liability to $500. The decision upheld the State 

 law, as not interfering with interstate commerce 

 and within the province of State legislation. 



Civil Service. In the case of Kipley v*. Illinois. 

 decided April 18, 1898, in regard to the constitution- 

 ality of the civil service law of Illinois, the court 

 held that it had no jurisdiction. The question 

 whether the Illinois civil service act was unconsti- 

 tutional applied to the State Constitution and not 

 to the Constitution of the United States. Tin- 

 action of the Supreme Court of Illinois did not 

 raise a question of a Federal nature. 



Citizenship. The case of the United States vs. 

 Wong-Kim-Ark was decided. The defendant was 



