In re Petition of Wilson for Writ of Habeas Corpus
In re Petition of Wilson for Writ of Habeas Corpus
Opinion of the Court
Upon the foregoing record this court discharged the petitioner and it now remains for the court to express its reasons for holding this statute unconstitutional and void.
The scope and effect of the commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States has been a much mooted question before the courts, both State and Federal, ever since early in the century, and the number of cases involving this important provision have constantly increased, down to the present time. Without attempting to review or even cite the numerous cases involving the question under consideration, we think there are1 certain principles firmly established by the Supreme Court of the United States which are decisive of this case and which may be stated as follows:
1. Commerce between a State and Territory is “commerce among the several states” within the meaning of the Constitution. Stoutenburgh v. Hennick, 129 U. S. 141.
2. The right to conduct interstate commerce includes the right to sell in original packages the goods which are thé subject of such commerce, free from State regulations. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419; Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U. S. 100; Schollenberger v. Penn., 171 U. S. 1.
3. A State statute, imposing a license tax upon the conduct of interstate commercé is a regulation of such commerce and invalid. Leloup v. Mobile, 127 U. S. 640; Lyng v. Michigan, 135 U. S. 161; Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U. S. 47.
4. A license may hot be demanded of, a foreign corporation or person engáged in interstate commerce for the privilege of conducting the same, nor may the same be prohibited, notwithstanding a like tax may be exacted for domestic business covering the same articles, and notwithstanding such domestic business may be prohibited. Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U. S. 47; Schollenberger v. Pennsylvania, 171 U. S. 1; Powel v. Pennsylvania, 127 U. S. 678; Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623.
5. A State may tax or license a business wholly within the State, notwithstanding the person or corporation engaged in such business may also be, either incidentally or principally, engaged in interstate business, so long as the license or tax does not refer to and is not imposed upon the business which is interstate. Osborne v. Florida, 164 U. S. 650.
6. But where a license tax is laid generally upon the conduct of business in all forms, and without distinction as to whether it is interstate or local, and where the tax which is laid upon local business can not be separated from that which is on interstate business, the whole tax is in contravention of the Constitution and void. Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U. S. 47; Telegraph Co. v. Alabama, 132 U. S. 473; Ratterman v. Western Union Tel. Co., 127 U. S. 411; Leloup v. Port of Mobile, 127 U. S. 640, 647; Osborne v. Florida, 164 U. S. 650, 655.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.