San Antonio, U. & G. Ry. Co. v. Nast
San Antonio, U. & G. Ry. Co. v. Nast
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit for $1,060, the value of a trunk and its contents, instituted by appellee against appellant. Upon the answers to special issues submitted to a jury, judgment was rendered against appellant for $1,060.
The facts are that appellee’s wife purchased a railroad ticket from Pittsburgh, Pa., to San Antonio, and had her trunk checked to San Antonio. After reaching San Antonio, she bought a ticket over appellant’s line to Corpus Christi and had her trunk checked to the last-named place, without declaring its value. She was in San Antonio only a short time and surrendered her trunk check to an agent of appellant who gave her a check to Corpus Christi. Her trunk was not delivered and she has never seen it since it was checked by her in Pittsburgh. Appellant resisted payment of more than $100 for the trunk and contents, on the ground that the shipment of the trunk was interstate commerce, and the value not declared, and the shipment was governed by the provisions of Baggage Tariff Rule 10 of the United States Railway Administration.
“The elementary principle that under the Constitution the authority of the government of the United States is paramount when exerted as to subjects concerning which it has the power to control, is indisputable. This being true, it results that, although authority to regulate within a given sphere may exist in both the United States and in the states, when the former calls into play the constitutional authority within such general sphere, the necessary effect of doing so is that, to the extent that any conflict arises, the state power is limited, since *597 in case of conflict that which is paramount necessarily controls that which is subordinate.”
That is recognized by this court as stating the true doctrine as to the relations of the state and federal governments, only when confined to war measures in which the means for defense of our principles and ideals must be given pre-eminence and authority over everything that may cripple or weaken them. A different rule should prevail in times of peace, and when no crying emergency demands heroic and extraordinary measures.
Following, the interpretation of the war measure made by the federal Supreme Court, Chief Justic'e Willson of the Texarkana Court of Civil Appeals held, in the cited case of Payne v. McConnell:
“We think the rates and regulations for the carriage of baggage initiated by the President, in the exercise of power conferred on him in times of war, superseded state laws in conflict with same, and that it appeared as a matter of law that appellee was not entitled to recover a sum in excess of $100.”
The passenger’s ticket in that ease was for transportation from Dallas, Tex., to Longview Junction, Tex., and the other facts are strikingly similar to the facts in this case.
The judgment will be reversed, and judgment here rendered that appellee recover the sum of $100 against appellant, and that appellee pay all costs of this appeal. ’
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- San Antonio, U. G. Ry. Co. v. Nast. [Fn]
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