Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-14
IMPORTANT TEST OF
A NEW JERSEY LAW
Case Has Been Through the Police
and Common Pleas Courts and Is
Now Before New Jersey
Supreme Court

commenced last summer by the Tour
ing Bureau of the White company to
| test the validity of the New Jersey
| automobile law, popularity known as
the Frelinghuysen law, has now
reached the supreme court of the state.
Judge Reed of that court recently
granted a writ of certiorari, thus per-
mitting the case to be argued within the
next few weeks. It is reasonable to
] expect that before the touring season
! opens an opinion will have been handed
down on the various legal points raised
| by Xenophon P. Huddy and Peter
Backes, counsel for the White COM
pany.
The case has been through the police
court and the court Of common pleas.
but neither of these courts undertook
to pass upon the constitutional ques-
tiOns involved, but simply ruled on
the facts of the case and the wording
! of the statute.
1t will be remembered that the case
originated with the arrest of r. H.
Johnson, in the city of Trenton, because
no New Jersey license number was dis
played upon his machine An attempt
was made to bring the constitutional
questions at once into the federal court
but that court sent the case back into
the state courts for adjudication. Some
of the points raised by the counsel for
the White company have never been
raised in an automobile case.
Cannot Tax Non-Residents
The principal contention of the White
company is that the state of New Jer-
Sey has no power to tax a non-resi-
dent citizen. Freedom of ingress into
and egress from the several states is
guaranteed to the citizens of the
United States and has been sustained
| by many decisions of the United States
supreme court. A case which is large
ly relied upon is that of CrandalI VS..
Nevada, in which the supreme court of
the United States held that the state
of Nevada had no power to levy tax
on stage coaches operating between
points in that state and points in ad-
jacent states. The reasoning of the
| court in arriving at this decision seems
to apply to the parallel case of an auto
mobile which is driven between points
in the state of New Jersey and points
in adjacent states. The White COM
pSny further contends that the section
in the Frelinghuysen law which pro-
VideS that q nonresident automobile
cannot obtain the required automobile
license without constituting the Secre-
tary of the state of New Jersey his
attorney for the purpose of serving
process alone vitiates the New Jersey
statute.
1t is not denied that the state may, in
the exercise of it's police powers, eX-
act a reasonable license fee to cover
the expense of issuing a license and
maintaining a department for that pur
pose, but it has been laid down by the
highest court of New Jersey that
wherever it is manifest that the
amount of such tax imposed in the eX-
1k,r-Nrn
TALLY in excess of the reasonable eX-
pense of issuing a license and of regu-
lating the occupation to which is per-
tains. the act or ordinance imposing the
tax is invalid. Inasmuch as the Ii
cense fees collected in the state of New
Jersey within the last year exceed by
more than 100000 the amount necessa-
ry to maintain the department it would
seem that the Frelinghuysen law is in
valid under the judicial ruling just
quoted.
Another case relied upon is the very
recent one of the Simpson Crawford
company VS.. the Borough Of Atlantic
Highlands, wherein it was decided that
q license tax of $40 imposed by an or
dinance of Atlantic Highlands upon We
hicles coming within the municipality
was unconstitutional and void, as
against the Simpson-Crawford company
located in another state.
Interstate Question Involved
The White company further contends
| that the New Jersey tax constitutes an
unconstitutional tax on interstate COM
| nerce in viola tion of the federal con-
! stitutiOn, which places interstate COM
! merce within the exclusive jurisdiction
of the United States government. In
| this connection it has been judicially
| held that commerce among the states
! includes transportation and transit of
| persons and property
Another contention is that the New
| jersey license tax is unconstitutional
| because automobiles are taxed accord
| ing to their horsepower and not ac-
| cording to their value, which is the
basis on which all taxes should be as
| Sessed.
XenOphon P. Huddy, in discussing
| the case a few days ago, said: 1--WE
think that we have raised a number of
points which will result in the law
| being declared unconstitutional and
void It is, of course, impossible for
| anyone to predict what the final de-
cision will be, but it is certain, how
ever, that our litigation has been of
great value in calling public attention
| to the unjust provisions of the present
| New Jersey statute, and lawmakers in
other states are going slow in enacting
| laws involving heavy taxation on au-
! tomobilists until the important points
which we have raised have been passed
| unOn bv a court of last resort -