Canada Atlantic Transit Co. v. City of Chicago
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the facts as above). The city of Chicago has adopted an amendment to the Revised Municipal Code, in reference to navigation in the harbor and river in .Chicago, which prescribes (section 1014) that vessels passing any bridge shall move at a rate of'speed not less than two miles per hour and shall not obstruct “passage across such bridge more than five minutes,” and further requires (section 1016) that steam vessels of 1,200 tons gross burden or more, while navigating portions of the river defined in the amendment, “shall have the assistance of a tug or tugs”; • and the issue upon this appeal is the validity of these provisions. Their validity is challenged by averments of the appellants’ bill, filed for injunctional relief, upon two propositions in substance: First,- that the requirements interfere with rights of navigation and interstate commerce, not within the authority of state or municipality, but subject alone
The doctrine thus settled is comprehensively stated and applied in Escanaba Co. v. Chicago, supra — in reference to the power of the city of Chicago to regulate navigation of the river, pursuant to an ordinance prescribing hours when bridges shall not be opened for the passage of vessels, and that during other hours named they shall not be opened for a longer period than ten minutes at any one time and shall then “be closed for fully ten minutes” for passage of teams rind persons “waiting to pass over” — and may be epitomized as follows: The power of Congress is supreme over all navigable waters, to “exercise control to the extent necessary to protect, preserve and improve their free navigation” ; but this federal power of control is usually exercised only in matters which “are national in their character and admit and require uniformity of regulation affecting all the states” and waterways. It is well recognized, therefore, that general regulations of navigation adopted by Congress cannot reasonably be made to answer various local requirements in ports and rivers within the states, and that the several states retain and “have full power to regulate - within their limits matters of internal policy,” which includes regulation of navigation in a waterway like the Chicago river, crowded with shipping and spanned by numerous bridges, in the midst of a great commercial metropolis. So, under the sanction of the state, the city of Chicago is authorized to regulate use of the bridges and river within the city, in accordance with local conditions and needs,, “until Congress interferes and supersedes” such regulation. “If the power of the state and that of the federal government come in conflict, the latter must control and the former must yield;” but “until Congress acts upon the subject” municipal regulation for local purposes is within the authority of the state.
Again, in the recent case of Cummings v. Chicago, supra, the above ruling was reaffirmed and its doctrine applied, for denial of relief sought against the city to prevent enforcement of an ordinance which required permit from the city department of public works for con
We are of opinion, therefore, that the regulations provided in the ordinance in controversy, for navigation in the Chicago river, are clearly within the nature and. scope of powers vested in the city, as recognized and established by the above-mentioned line of authorities, and that all the contentions on behalf of the appellants in derogation of such power inherent in the state, must be overruled. It is unquestionable that the provisions by municipal ordinance upheld in the Escanaba Co. Case and in other precedents referred to constitute regulations of navigation in ports and rivers within the limits of the municipality, and are entirely analogous in their subject-matter to the provisions of this ordinance, and that the ordinance enforced in the Cummings Case reaches far beyond the scope of power involved herein, so that the force of their doctrine as precedents arises out of the facts involved therein and does not depend on reasons for the ruling stated in the opinions.. Thus the contention, that the distinction between national control over waterways and navigation and the exercise of control over transportation by land, appears to have been overlooked “in discussing the subject of regulation of commerce by water,” were it assumed to be tenable, is beside the issue and calls for no intimation of opinion. In reference to the provision that steamers of 1,200 tons burden “shall have, the assistance of a tug” in navigation through and between bridges, we believe it to be plainly directed as a means for safety and celerity of movement in the crowded thoroughfare, and that it does not constitute “a pilotage regulation” in any recognized sense of the use of a pilot to supplant the master in navigation of the vessel. The -objection raised for unreasonableness of the requirement relates alone to the exercise of the power and not to its existence, for which the test must be whether the city can require use of a tug 'in such navi
. ■ “If every member of this bench clearly agreed” that the theory and policy adopted in the ordinance were “wholly wrong, it would not dispose of the ease. * * * Opinion still may he divided, and if, on the hypothesis that the danger is real, the ordinance would be valid, we should not’overthrow it merely because of our adherence to the other belief.”
Plainly, therefore, any impressions we may have derived from- the evidence that some requirements of the ordinance for use of a tug are in excess of any seeming need for public benefit and impose an unreasonable burden on the steamers would not authorize interference on the part of the court. If modification is found to be reasonable, it rests with the city, and not with the courts, to make the correction; and the only other remedy open to appellants is through the exercise of the plenary power of Congress to supersede or modify the requirements. Olsen v. Smith, 195 U. S. 332, 345, 25 Sup. Ct. 52, 49 L. Ed. 224; Thompson v. Darden, 198 U. S. 310, 317, 25 Sup. Ct. 660, 49 L. Ed. 1064.
The decree of the District Court is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CANADA ATLANTIC TRANSIT CO. v. CITY OF CHICAGO
- Status
- Published