City & County of Honolulu v. Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co.
City & County of Honolulu v. Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co.
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT BY
This is an appeal by tbe Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Company, respondent-appellant, from an order of the public utilities commission of Hawaii, made and entered on December 11, 1919, requiring tbe transit company to remove its street railway tracks from tbe present location thereof along tbe mauka or east side of Ala Moana, or Moana road, in tbe city of Honolulu, and to relocate tbe same in double track at or near tbe center of Ala Moana conformably to tbe map and plan on file with tbe public utilities commission. That portion of tbe street-car tracks of tbe transit company to be affected by tbe order of tbe utilities commission extends along Ala Moana south from Richards street to Keawe street. This order was issued on tbe petition of tbe City and County of Honolulu presented to tbe public utilities commission and after due notice and bearing was bad thereon. Tbe City and County now moves to dismiss tbe appeal of tbe transit company.
Counsel for the City and County of Honolulu argues
Whether the public utilities commission was property acting within the scope of its power and authority we are not now called upon to determine but we think it obvious that the commission was not attempting to regulate rates, fares, charges, classifications, rules and practices charged or observed by the public utility and for this reason no appeal lies to the supreme court in the first instance. It cannot be doubted that the transit company is entitled to have recourse to the courts of the Territory, for “all acts of the public utilities commission herein provided for shall be subject to review by the courts of said Territory.” (See 39 U. S. Stat. L., Pt. 1, Ch. 53, pp. 38, 39.) And even where legislatures have attempted to make the conclusions of the commission final and beyond the reach of the courts these statutes have been held invalid as depriving the carrier of its right to a judicial investigation to which it is entitled under the guaranty of due process of law. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. Co. v. Minnesota, 134 U. S. 418; Missouri-Pacific R. Co. v. Tucker, 230 U. S. 340; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Jones, 149 Ill. 361; Com. v. Atl. Coast Line R. Co., 106 Va. 61. If the order made by the public utilities commission of Hawaii requiring the transit company to relocate its car tracks violates the
The motion is granted and the appeal herein dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU v. HONOLULU RAPID TRANSIT & LAND COMPANY
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Appeai and Error — carriers. An appeal does not lie directly to the territorial supreme court from an order made by the public utilities commission requiring a carrier to relocate its car tracks in the public highways of the city of Honolulu.