Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/402/558/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 00:33:45+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 402 › United States v. Int'l Minerals & Chem. Corp.
"did knowingly fail to show on the shipping papers the required classification of said property, to-wit, Corrosive Liquid, in violation of 49 C.F.R. 173.437,"
issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 834(a). Section 834(f) provides that whoever "knowingly violates any such regulation" shall be fined and imprisoned. The District Court dismissed the information, holding that it did not charge a "knowing violation" of the regulation.
Held: The statute does not signal an exception to the general rule that ignorance of the law is no excuse. The word "knowingly" in the statute pertains to knowledge of the facts, and where, as here, dangerous products are involved, the probability of regulation is so great that anyone who is aware that he is in possession of or dealing with them must be presumed to be aware of the regulation. Pp. 560-565.
DOUGLAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BLACK, WHITE, MARSHALL, and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined. STEWART, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which HARLAN and BRENNAN, JJ., joined, post, p. 402 U. S. 565.
"did knowingly fail to show on the shipping papers the required classification of said property, to-wit, Corrosive Liquid, in violation of 49 C.F.R. 173.427."
Title 18 U.S.C. § 834(a) gives the Interstate Commerce Commission power to "formulate regulations for the safe transportation" of "corrosive liquids," and 18 U.S.C. § 834(f) states that whoever "knowingly violates any such regulation" shall be fined or imprisoned.
"Each shipper offering for transportation any hazardous material subject to the regulations in this chapter, shall describe that article on the shipping paper by the shipping name prescribed in § 172.5 of this chapter and by the classification prescribed in § 172.4 of this chapter, and may add a further description not inconsistent therewith. Abbreviations must not be used."
The District Court, relying primarily on Boyce Motor Lines, Inc. v. United States, 342 U. S. 337, ruled that the information did not charge a "knowing violation" of the regulation, and accordingly dismissed the information.
the Court of Appeals did; and we noted probable jurisdiction, 400 U.S. 990.
Here as in United States v. Freed, 401 U. S. 601, which dealt with the possession of hand grenades, strict or absolute liability is not imposed; knowledge of the shipment of the dangerous materials is required. The sole and narrow question is whether "knowledge" of the regulation is also required. It is in that narrow zone that the issue of "mens rea" is raised; and appellee bears down hard on the provision in 18 U.S.C. § 834(f) that whoever "knowingly violates any such regulation" shall be fined, etc.
"avoid, so far as practicable, and, where feasible, by prearrangement of routes, driving into or through congested thoroughfares, places where crowds are assembled, street car tracks, tunnels, viaducts, and dangerous crossings."
commercially practicable and appreciably safer (in its avoidance of crowded thoroughfares, etc.) than the one it did follow. It must also be shown that petitioner knew that there was such a practicable, safer route, and yet deliberately took the more dangerous route through the tunnel, or that petitioner willfully neglected to exercise its duty under the Regulation to inquire into the availability of such an alternative route."
"In an effort to give point to its argument, petitioner asserts that there was no practicable route its trucks might have followed which did not pass through places they were required to avoid. If it is true that, in the congestion surrounding the lower Hudson, there was no practicable way of crossing the River which would have avoided such points of danger to a substantially greater extent than the route taken, then petitioner has not violated the Regulation. But that is plainly a matter for proof at the trial. We are not so conversant with all the routes in that area that we may, with no facts in the record before us, assume the allegations of the indictment to be false. We will not thus distort the judicial notice concept to strike down a regulation adopted only after much consultation with those affected and penalizing only those who knowingly violate its prohibition."
Id. at 342 U. S. 342-343.
such a regulation its ignorance would constitute a defense."
342 U.S. at 342 U. S. 345.
There is no issue in the present case of the propriety of the delegation of the power to establish regulations and of the validity of the regulation at issue. We therefore see no reason why the word "regulations" should not be construed as a shorthand designation for specific acts or omissions which violate the Act. The Act, so viewed, does not signal an exception to the-rule that ignorance of the law is no excuse and is wholly consistent with the legislative history.
"being aware that the Interstate Commerce Commission has formulated regulations for the safe transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles. [Footnote 2]"
strict liability was not intended. The Senate Committee felt it would be too stringent, and thus rejected the position of the Interstate Commerce Commission. [Footnote 6] But despite protestations of avoiding strict liability the Senate version was very likely to result in strict liability because knowledge of the facts would have been unnecessary and anyone involved in the business of shipping dangerous materials would very likely know of the regulations involved. Thus, in rejecting the Senate version the House was rejecting strict liability. [Footnote 7] But it is too much to conclude that in rejecting strict liability the House was also carving out an exception to the general rule that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
The principle that ignorance of the law is no defense applies whether the law be a statute or a duly promulgated and published regulation. In the context of these proposed 1960 amendments, we decline to attribute to Congress the inaccurate view that that Act requires proof of knowledge of the law, as well as the facts, and that it intended to endorse that interpretation by retaining the word "knowingly." We conclude that the meager legislative history of the 1960 amendments makes unwarranted the conclusion that Congress abandoned the general rule and required knowledge of both the facts and the pertinent law before a criminal conviction could be sustained under this Act.
"The contention that an injury can amount to a crime only when inflicted by intention is no provincial or transient notion. It is as universal and persistent in mature systems of law as belief in freedom of the human will and a consequent ability and duty of the normal individual to choose between good and evil."
"He whose conduct is defined as criminal is one who 'willfully' fails to pay the tax, to make a return, to keep the required records, or to supply the needed information. Congress did not intend that a person, by reason of a bona fide misunderstanding as to his liability for the tax, as to his duty to make a return, or as to the adequacy of the records he maintained, should become a criminal by his mere failure to measure up to the prescribed standard of conduct. And the requirement that the omission in these instances must be willful to be criminal is persuasive that the same element is essential to the offense of failing to supply information."
Id. at 290 U. S. 396.
rea" as to each ingredient of the offense. But where, as here and as in Balint and Freed, dangerous or deleterious devices or products or obnoxious waste materials are involved, the probability of regulation is so great that anyone who is aware that he is in possession of them or dealing with them must be presumed to be aware of the regulation.
The regulatory authority originally granted the Interstate Commerce Commission was transferred to the Department of Transportation by 80 Stat. 939, 49 U.S.C. § 1655(e) (1964 ed., Supp. V).
See H.R.Rep. No.1975, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., 111.
See the HEW Staff Memorandum, id. at 119.
S.Rep. No. 901, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 3.
The Senate language might "well create an almost absolute liability for violation." H.R.Rep. No.1975, supra, at 2.
MR. JUSTICE STEWART, with whom MR. JUSTICE HARLAN and MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN join, dissenting.
This case stirs large questions -- questions that go to the moral foundations of the criminal law. Whether postulated as a problem of "mens rea," of "willfulness," of "criminal responsibility," or of "scienter," the infliction of criminal punishment upon the unaware has long troubled the fair administration of justice. See, e.g., Morissette v. United States, 342 U. S. 246; Lambert v. California, 355 U. S. 225; Scales v. United States, 367 U. S. 203. Cf. Durham v. United States, 214 F.2d 862. But there is no occasion here for involvement with this root problem of criminal jurisprudence, for it is evident to me that Congress made punishable only knowing violations of the regulation in question. That is what the law quite clearly says, what the federal courts have held, and what the legislative history confirms.
did no more than give effect to the ordinary meaning of the English language.
"If it be thought that the indicated requirement of proof will seriously hamper effective enforcement of the Interstate Commerce Commission regulations, the answer is that Congress is at liberty to fix that up by striking out . . . the prescribed element of mens rea -- 'knowingly' -- as applied to violation of regulations of the sort here involved. . . . ."
would seem that a person could not knowingly violate a regulation unless he knows of the terms of the regulation and knows that what he is doing is contrary to the regulation. Here again, the definition of the offense is within the control and discretion of the legislature."
"being aware that the Interstate Commerce Commission has formulated regulations for the safe transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles. [Footnote 2/1]"
"Prosecution for violations of the Commission's transportation of explosives regulations has been extremely difficult because of the requirement in section 835 of the act that violators must have knowledge that they violated the Commission's regulations. While the committee believes that every reasonable precaution should be taken to provide for punishing those violating a statute whose purpose is to promote safety, the creation of an absolute liability is deemed too stringent. [Footnote 2/2]"
"The present Transportation and Explosives Act requires that a violation 'knowingly' be committed before penalty may be inflicted for such violation.
Under the present law, there is judicial pronouncement as to the standards of conduct that make a violation a 'knowing' violation. The instant bill would change substantially the quantum of proof necessary to prove a violation, since it provides that 'any person who being aware that the Interstate Commerce Commission has formulated regulations for the safe transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles' is guilty if there is a noncompliance with the regulations. Such language may well create an almost absolute liability for violation. . . . Since the penalties prescribed for violation of the Explosives Act are substantial, and since proof required to sustain a charge of violation of such regulations under the bill would require little more than proof that the violation occurred, it is the considered opinion of the committee that such a substantial departure in present law is not warranted. It is the purpose of this amendment to retain the present law by providing that a person must 'knowingly' violate the regulations. [Footnote 2/3]"
Three days later, the Senate agreed to the resubstitution of the word "knowingly" by passing the House version of the bill.
The Court today thus grants to the Executive Branch what Congress explicitly refused to grant in 1960. It effectively deletes the word "knowingly" from the law. I cannot join the Court in this exercise, requiring, as it does, such a total disregard of plain statutory language, established judicial precedent, and explicit legislative history.
motor carriers are members of a regulated industry, and their officers, agents, and employees are required by law to be conversant with the regulations in question. [Footnote 2/4] As a practical matter, therefore, they are under a species of absolute liability for violation of the regulations despite the "knowingly" requirement. This, no doubt, is as Congress intended it to be. Cf. United States v. Dotterweich, 320 U. S. 277; United States v. Balint, 258 U. S. 250. Likewise, prosecution of regular shippers for violations of the regulations could hardly be impeded by the "knowingly" requirement, for triers of fact would have no difficulty whatever in inferring knowledge on the part of those whose business it is to know, despite their protestations to the contrary. The only real impact of this decision will be upon the casual shipper, who might be any man, woman, or child in the Nation. A person who had never heard of the regulation might make a single shipment of an article covered by it in the course of a lifetime. It would be wholly natural for him to assume that he could deliver the article to the common carrier and depend upon the carrier to see that it was properly labeled and that the shipping papers were in order. Yet today's decision holds that a person who does just that is guilty of a criminal offense punishable by a year in prison. This seems to me a perversion of the purpose of criminal law.
See H.R.Rep. No.1975, 86th Cong., 2d Se., 10-11.
S.Rep. No. 901, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 2.
H.R.Rep. No.1975, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., 2.

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