The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-28
GIVES
 OUT HIS OPINION UphoIds Jurisdiction of the
 Federal Court
NOT SUIT AGAINST STATE
The Judge Holds That It Is lnconceiv- able That a Circuit Court of the United States Cannot Ar
 ford Legal Relief.

Asheville, N C.. August 27.-Judge Pritchard, in the United States circuit court, in a long expected opinion. an- nounced today In the rate case of the Southern railway against the corpora tion commission and the attorney gen eral of North Carolina, upholds the Jurisdiction of the court In the issuance of the recent inJunctions against of ficials during the railroad rate contro- versy and declares that the suit Is not one against the state within the mean ing of the eleventh amendment to the federal constitution. That amendment holds the judicial power of the United States shall not extend to any suit against q state by citizens of another state. The decision says that state legislature cannot so frame act as to deprive citizen of right vouch safed him by the federal constitution. It does not possess the power to de prive this court of it's Jurisdiction and the other questions are definitely de- termined the better 1t will be for all parties concerned"
 Commission Makes Rates.
 The decision holds that the corpora ton commission Is still charged with llldh lnB lhltSi the only lllHIldllon upOH their power being that they shall not make a maximum rate in North Caro- lima in excess of 2A cents per mile The The corporation commission and the attorney general are "especially charged with the duty of securing the enforcement of section four of the pas senger rate act, which provides heavy penalties and fines for d failure of rail- roads and their officials to comply wit7l that act" All laws in existence on the passage of that act being on super vision and control of roads, etc., are to be construed in connection with the rate act.
 'It is inconcevable. the decision says, that a circuit court of the United States in the exercise of It's jurisdiction, should be powerless to afford a remedy to one who seeks to assert right which Is guaranteed by the constitution of the United States. This Is in no sense suit against the state, nor can be con tended that the state Is any wise party in interest, in so far as the merits of the controversy are concerned. It can not be reasonably insisted that this is a suit to prevent the state from enforcing any right which 1t possesses, nor can it be said to be a suit to compel the performance of an obligation of the state nor does 1t in any wise invoke d mat ter in which the state has a pecuniary interest; the parties in interest being compainants on the one side and the travelling public on the other.
 Court Has Jurisdiction.
 Therefore, the questions presented are not such as to warrant the assumption that this court is without jurisdiction. and careful study of the circumstances attending the adoption of the eleventh amendment. as well the end to be ob- tained by the adoption of the same, show conclusiVely that those who were re- sponsible for it's adoption never dreamed that 1t could be used a means of de- prlving an American citizen of any sub stantial right conferred upon him by the constitution of the United States. The eleventh amendment being a part of the constitution must be construed so as to give full force and effect to every provision of the instrument of which 1t forms a part. Any other construction O. this amendment would practically null Tiff that clause of the constitution which provides that no state shall pass any laws impairing the obligations of tracts as well as the fourteenth amend ment."
 The opinion shows that the laws of North Carolina especially provide upon what terms an injunction shall be grant ed to suspend rates, pending litigation or involving the confiscatory nature of such rates: that the statutes of North Caro- lima expressly authorize the course pur- sued by the courts when freight rates are inv olved, but does not even require a bond for such injunction when pas senger fares are in litigation