Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/264/140/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 02:16:34+00:00

Document:
1. The amount in controversy in a suit to enjoin enforcement of a statute alleged to be unconstitutional in relation to the plaintiff's business is the value of his right to carry on the business free from the restraint of the statute. P. 264 U. S. 142.
2. When prevention of criminal prosecutions under an unconstitutional statute is essential to protect property rights, equitable jurisdiction exists to restrain them. P. 264 U. S. 143.
3. A New York statute requires persons engaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire in motor vehicles upon public streets to file security or insurance for payment of judgments for death, or injury to person or property, caused in the operation or by defective construction of such motor vehicles.
(a) Not in violation of equal protection of the laws either because it applies only in cities of the first class or because it does not apply to persons operating motor vehicles for their own private ends, or because it does not apply to street cars and omnibuses, which are regulated under another law. P. 264 U. S. 143.
(b) Not so burdensome in this case as to amount to confiscation, in violation of due process of law, in view of the opportunity allowed to file a corporate or personal bond if the cost of insurance be excessive compared with the returns from plaintiff's business. P. 264 U. S. 145.
(c) Inability of a party to comply with the statute without assuming an excessive burden does not render the requirement unconstitutional if due to his peculiar circumstances. Id.
4. The regulatory power over an activity carried on by government sufferance or permission is greater than over one engaged in by private right. Id.
Appeal from a decree of the district court, which dismissed a bill to enjoin enforcement of a New York statute regulating carriers of passengers for hire by motor vehicle.
about $35 a week, which would be reduced by the operation of the law to $16.50 per week, resulting in confiscation of the earnings of appellant for the benefit of the insurance companies. The statute makes it a misdemeanor to operate such motor vehicle without having furnished the required bond or policy, and appellant avers that appellees, as prosecuting officers of the state, have threatened, and, if not enjoined, will proceed, to prosecute him unless he complies with the law. The court below was constituted of three judges under § 266 of the Judicial Code. Upon the return of the order to show cause, a hearing was had and the court denied a motion for an injunction pendente lite, and dismissed the bill for want of equity, without handing down an opinion.
1. Appellees insist that the district court was without jurisdiction because the matter in controversy does not exceed the value of $3,000. Judicial Code, § 24, subd. 1. The bill discloses that the enforcement of the statute sought to be enjoined will have the effect of materially increasing appellant's expenditures, as well as causing injury to him in other respects. The allegations, in general terms, are that the sum or value in controversy exceeds $3,000, which the affidavits filed in the lower court tend to support; that appellant is the owner of four motor vehicles, the income from which would be reduced, if the law be enforced, to the extent of $18.50 each per week, and that his business would otherwise suffer. The object of the suit is to enjoin the enforcement of the statute, and it is the value of this object thus sought to be gained that determines the amount in dispute. Railroad Co. v. Ward, 2 Black 485; Railway Co. v. Kuteman, 54 F. 547, 552; Nashville, C. & St.L. R. Co. v. McConnell, 82 F. 65, 73; Scott v. Donald, 165 U. S. 107, 165 U. S. 114; City of Hutchinson v. Beckham, 118 F. 399, 402; Evenson v. Spaulding, 150 F. 517, 520; Hunt v. N.Y. Cotton Exchange, 205 U. S. 322, 205 U. S. 336.
Counteraffidavits were filed tending to show that the expenses incident to compliance with the statute would be less than alleged, but it sufficiently appears that the value of the right of appellant to carry on his business, freed from the restraint of the statute, exceeds the jurisdictional amount.
2. Another preliminary contention is that the bill cannot be sustained, because there is a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law -- that is, that the question may be tried and determined as fully in a criminal prosecution under the statute as in a suit in equity. The general rule undoubtedly is that a court of equity is without jurisdiction to restrain criminal proceedings, unless they are instituted by a party to a suit already pending before it to try the same right that is in issue there. In re Sawyer, 124 U. S. 200, 124 U. S. 209-211; Davis & Farnum Manufacturing Co. v. Los Angeles, 189 U. S. 207, 189 U. S. 217.
But it is settled that "a distinction obtains, and equitable jurisdiction exists to restrain criminal prosecutions under unconstitutional enactments, when the prevention of such prosecutions is essential to the safeguarding of rights of property." Truax v. Raich, 239 U. S. 33, 239 U. S. 37-38. The question has so recently been considered that we need do no more than cite Terrace v. Thompson, 263 U. S. 197, where the cases are collected, and state our conclusion that the present suit falls within the exception and not the general rule. Huston v. City, 176 Iowa, 455, 464; Dobbins v. Los Angeles, 195 U. S. 223.
their use by a great number of persons or the density and continuity of traffic, justifying measures to safeguard the public from dangers incident to the operation of motor vehicles which do not obtain in the case of the smaller communities.
195 N.Y.S. 217; People v. Martin, 203 App.Div. 423, where the statute now under review was sustained against the attacks here made as to its constitutionality. And see Fifth Avenue Coach Co. v. New York, 221 U. S. 467; Pacific Express Co. v. Seibert, 142 U. S. 339, 142 U. S. 353.
It is asserted that the requirements of the statute are so burdensome as to amount to confiscation, and therefore to result in depriving appellant of his property without due process of law. The allegation is that the rate of premium fixed by insurance companies operating in New York amounts to about $18.50 per week for each taxicab, while the net income from each is about $35 per week. The operator, under the statute, however, is not confined to this method of security, but instead may file either a personal bond with two approved sureties or a corporate surety bond. Appellant says that he cannot procure a personal bond, but it does not appear that he might not procure the corporate surety bond at a less cost. Affidavits filed below on behalf of appellees tend to show that insurance policies in mutual casualty companies may be secured for $540 a year, and that operators of upwards of a thousand cars have furnished personal bonds. The fact that, because of circumstances peculiar to him, appellant may be unable to comply with the requirement as to security without assuming a burden greater than that generally borne, or excessive in itself, does not militate against the constitutionality of the statute. Moreover, a distinction must be observed between the regulation of an activity which may be engaged in as a matter of right and one carried on by government sufferance or permission. In the latter case, the power to exclude altogether generally includes the lesser power to condition, and may justify a degree of regulation not admissible in the former. See Davis v. Massachusetts, 167 U. S. 43.

References: § 266
 § 24
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.