Mayagüez Sugar Co. v. Sugar Board
Mayagüez Sugar Co. v. Sugar Board
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
There is nothing in this case different from the question raised and decided by this Court in Mayagüez Sugar Company v. Sugar Board, 78 P.R.R. 844 (Pérez Pimentel) (1956). [1] When this contract was executed on August 15, 1953, Act No. 426 of May 13, 1951 (Sess. Laws, p. 1138) was already in force and § 3 of the Act was therefore a part of the contract. [2] It is known that this section re-established the freedom of contract between centrals and colonos outside the original plan of production zones determined by the Public Service Commission of Puerto Rico provided in § 4 of Act No. 221 of May 12, 1942 (Sess. Laws, p. 1176),
As will be seen, we are concerned with the reasonable regulation of an industry “affected by a public interest,” because it is the principal agency of our economy. [3] The fact that there is imposed on the centrals the obligation to grind the cane of their colonos and that the colonos are permitted to shift from one central to another does not make such public regulation unreasonable, confiscatory, or oppressive, since the parties concerned are not in the same position to contract. [4] We have also held that the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico has authority to regulate such industry. People v. A. Roig, Sucrs., 63 P.R.R. 17, 22 (Snyder) (1944).
The order appealed from will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.