Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/218/71/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 04:25:00+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 218 › Chiles v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co.
As held by the court of appeals of Kentucky, a railroad company has the right, in that state, to establish rules and regulations which require white and colored passengers, even though they be interstate, to occupy separate apartments upon the train provided there is no discrimination in the accommodations.
In this case, held that an interstate colored passenger was not compelled to occupy a separate apartment on a train in Kentucky from that occupied by white passengers under a state statute, but under rules and regulations of the railroad company.
Whether interstate passengers of different races must have different apartments or share the same apartment is a question of interstate commerce to be determined by Congress alone, Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Mississippi, 133 U. S. 587, and the inaction of Congress in that regard is equivalent to the declaration that carriers can by reasonable regulations separate colored and white passengers.
Regulations which are induced by the general sentiment of the community for whom they are made and upon whom they operate cannot be said to be unreasonable.
The facts, which involve constitutional rights of colored passengers on interstate trains in Kentucky, are stated in the opinion.
Plaintiff in error is a colored man. He bought a first-class ticket from defendant in error, a corporation engaged in operating a line of railroad from the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, and the City of Cincinnati, State of Ohio, to the City of Washington, District of Columbia. The ticket entitled him to ride from Washington to Lexington, Kentucky.
The train which he took at Washington did not run through to Lexington, and he changed to another train at Ashland, Kentucky, going into a car which, it is alleged, under the rules and regulations of defendant in error, was set apart exclusively for white persons. From this car he was required to remove to a car set apart exclusively for the transportation of colored persons.
He removed under protest, and only after a police officer had been summoned by defendant in error. Subsequently he brought this action in the Circuit Court of Fayette County, Kentucky. The case was tried to a jury, which rendered a verdict against him. A motion for a new trial was overruled. He appealed to the Court of Appeals of the state, and the action and judgment of the trial court were affirmed.
The assignments of error in this Court depend upon the contention that plaintiff in error was an interstate passenger, and was entitled to a first-class passage from Washington to Lexington, and that therefore the act of defendant in error in causing him to be removed from the car at Ashland was a violation of his rights and subjected the railroad company to damages.
although they may be interstate, to occupy separate compartments upon the train."
The court, however, said that there could be no discrimination in the accommodations.
car in which he was, followed the policeman into the colored passenger coach."
"There is really no material issue of fact involved in the case. No force or violence, or rude or oppressive conduct, was employed by the agents of appellee in removing appellant from the car in which he was seated to the car set apart for colored persons. And except that the car into which he was removed is divided by partitions into three compartments, it was substantially equal in quality, convenience, and accommodation to the car in which he first seated himself, and the compartment into which appellant was directed to go was clean and ample for his accommodation, and equipped with the same convenience as the other passenger coach on the train from which he was ejected."
In this, the court came to the same conclusion as the jury. Plaintiff in error insists that this conclusion put out of view his rights as an interstate commerce passenger. Both courts ignored such rights, he contends, the trial court in refusing instructions that were requested and in its ruling on the trial, and the Court of Appeals in affirming the judgment which was based upon the verdict.
testimony and by its instructions, confined "the jury only to the lesser motive" of defendant's "wrongful act." In other words, as we understand plaintiff in error, confined the jury to the consideration of the regulations of the railroad company, and withdrew from its consideration the effect of the statute under which, it is said, the conductor declared he acted. But by this we understand plaintiff in error to illustrate that his rights as an interstate passenger were denied. We are therefore brought back to the question what his rights as such passenger were.
The elements of that question have been considered and passed on in a number of cases. And we must keep in mind that we are not dealing with the law of a state attempting a regulation of interstate commerce beyond its power to make. We are dealing with the act of a private person, to-wit, the railroad company, and the distinction between state and interstate commerce we think is unimportant.
law or the civil law, where that prevails, has provided for the government of such business."
"Applying that principle to the circumstances of this case, congressional inaction left Beason [the shipowner] at liberty to adopt such reasonable rules and regulations for the disposition of passengers upon his boat while pursuing her voyage within Louisiana or without as seemed to him most for the interest of all concerned."
of their journey, be compelled to share their cabin accommodations with passengers of another race was a question of interstate commerce, and to be determined by Congress alone."
We have seen that it was decided in Hall v. DeCuir that the inaction of Congress was equivalent to the declaration that a carrier could, by regulations, separate colored and white interstate passengers.
In Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 540, a statute of Louisiana which required railroad companies to provide separate accommodations for the white and colored races was considered. The statute was attacked on the ground that it violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States. The opinion of the Court, which was by Mr. Justice Brown, reviewed prior cases and not only sustained the law but justified as reasonable the distinction between the races on account of which the statute was passed and enforced. It is true the power of a legislature to recognize a racial distinction was the subject considered, but if the test of reasonableness in legislation be, as it was declared to be, "the established usages, customs, and traditions of the people," and the "promotion of their comfort and the preservation of the public peace and good order," this must also be the test of the reasonableness of the regulations of a carrier, made for like purpose and to secure like results. Regulations which are induced by the general sentiment of the community for whom they are made and upon whom they operate cannot be said to be unreasonable. See also Chesapeake & O. Ry. Company v. Kentucky, 179 U. S. 388.
of the cases. They are also cited in Plessy v. Ferguson at page 163 U. S. 550. We think the judgment should be affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE HARLAN dissents from the opinion and judgment.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.