Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/298/1/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 10:17:09+00:00

Document:
1. The day before a registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission would have become "effective" under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Commission began a proceeding under § 8(d) of the Act challenging the truth and sufficiency of the statement and notified the registrant to appear at a hearing some weeks later and show cause why a stop order should not issue suspending its effectiveness. Thereafter, the Commission's subpoena was served on the registrant commanding him to appear and testify and bring designated books and papers. The registrant then gave formal notice that his statement was withdrawn and submitted motions to quash the subpoena, which he declined to obey, and to dismiss the proceeding. The Commission, however, persisted in the investigation and obtained from the District Court, under § 22(b) of the Act, an order requiring the registrant to appear before the Commission and answer questions.
(1) That the stop order proceeding was analogous to a suit for an injunction, so that, while it was pending, the effectiveness of the registration statement was suspended, and the registrant, if he acted under it, would act at his peril. P. 298 U. S. 15.
(2) Arbitrary power to forbid withdrawal of such statements is not conferred upon the Commission by the statute. P. 298 U. S. 18.
(3) The power of the Commission to prevent withdrawal is no greater than that of the courts to prevent dismissal by a plaintiff of his complaint at law or bill in equity. P. 298 U. S. 18.
(4) A rule of the Commission declaring that any registration statement may be withdrawn "if the Commission consents" and that such consent shall be given "with due regard to the public interest and the protection of investors" implies that withdrawal of a statement not as yet effective is of right if no prejudice will result to the public or to investors. P. 298 U. S. 21.
(5) The filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act is, in effect, an ex parte application for a license to use the mails and the facilities of interstate commerce for the purposes recognized by the Act. Withdrawal of the application before it has become effective cannot affect any right of the general public, nor can it be said to prejudice investors, when, as in this case, no step towards the issuance of the securities sought to be registered has been taken and no investor, actual or potential, in such securities is shown to exist. P. 298 U. S. 22.
(6) The registrant's right to withdraw his statement was unqualified, and the Commission's proceeding, limited to the purpose of determining whether the effectiveness of the statement should be suspended, was terminated by the withdrawal. P. 298 U. S. 23.
(7) After the withdrawal, no authority for the enforcement of the subpoena could be exercised by court order under § 22(b) of the Act. P. 298 U. S. 23.
(8) The stop order proceeding, having been ended by the withdrawal, could afford no basis for continuing the inquisition under a general power claimed by the Commission under § 19(b). P. 298 U. S. 25.
2. After a defendant has been notified of the pendency of a suit seeking an injunction against him, even though a temporary injunction be not granted, he acts at his peril and subject to the power of the court to restore the status quo ante wholly irrespective of the merits as they may be ultimately adjudged. P. 298 U. S. 15.
3. In the federal tribunals, a plaintiff has the unqualified right, unless otherwise provided by a specific rule of court, to dismiss his complaint at law or bill in equity, if no plain legal prejudice will result to the defendant other than the mere prospect of a second litigation upon the same subject matter. P. 298 U. S. 19.
4. To the extent that the mere will of an official or of an official body is permitted to take the place of allowable official discretion, or to supplant the standing law as a rule of conduct, the Government ceases to be one of laws and becomes an autocracy. The courts, in the performance of their duties, must be ever vigilant to detect and turn aside this danger at its beginnings. P. 298 U. S. 23.
5. Arbitrary power and the rule of the Constitution cannot both exist. Our institutions must be kept free from all assumptions of such power, whether by the three primary departments of the Government or by lesser agencies. P. 298 U. S. 24.
6. An official inquisition to compel disclosures of fact is not an end, but a means to an end, and it is a mere truism to say hat the end must be a legitimate one to justify the means. P. 298 U. S. 25.
7. A citizen, when interrogated about his private affairs, has a right before answering to know why the inquiry is made, and if the purpose disclosed is not a legitimate one, he may not be compelled to answer. P. 298 U. S. 25.
8. An investigation not based upon specified grounds is quite as objectionable as a search warrant not based upon specific statements of fact. Such an investigation, or such a search, is unlawful in its inception and cannot be made lawful by what it might bring, or by what it actually brings, to light. P. 298 U. S. 27.
9. The philosophy that constitutional limitations and legal restraints may be brushed aside upon the plea that good, perchance, may follow, finds no countenance in the American system of government. P. 298 U. S. 27.
10. The constitutionality of the Securities Act of 1933 is not considered in this case. P. 298 U. S. 28.
Certiorari, 297 U.S. 699, to review the affirmance of an order of the District Court, 12 F.Supp. 210, requiring the present petitioner to appear and testify before the Securities & Exchange Commission.
amendment, the act was administered by the Federal Trade Commission; but by Securities Exchange Act of 1934, § 210, 48 Stat. 908, the administration was transferred to the respondent.
"Any security may be registered with the Commission under the terms and conditions hereinafter provided, by filing a registration statement in triplicate, at least one of which shall be signed by each issuer."
The filing of the registration statement must be accompanied by the payment to the commission of a fee measured by the maximum aggregate price at which the securities are to be offered. The information contained in the statement is to be made available to the public under such regulations as the commission may prescribe. The act prescribes in detail the character of information which is to be set out in the statement. Elaborate provisions are made in respect of liability on account of false registration statements, etc., and penalties are imposed for willful violations of any of the provisions of the act, or the rules and regulations promulgated by the commission under authority thereof, and for willfully untrue statements of material facts or omissions to state material facts. Section 5(a), provides that, unless a registration statement is in effect as to a security, it shall be unlawful for any person directly or indirectly to make use of the instrumentalities of interstate commerce or of the mails to sell or offer to buy such security, etc., or to transport any such security for sale or for delivery after sale.
"Sec. 8(a) The effective date of a registration statement shall be the twentieth day after the filing thereof, except as hereinafter provided, . . ."
required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, the Commission may, after notice by personal service or the sending of confirmed telegraphic notice, and after opportunity for hearing (at a time fixed by the Commission) within fifteen days after such notice by personal service or the sending of such telegraphic notice, issue a stop order suspending the effectiveness of the registration statement. . . ."
"(e) The Commission is hereby empowered to make an examination in any case in order to determine whether a stop order should issue under subsection (d). In making such examination, the Commission or any officer or officers designated by it shall have access to and may demand the production of any books and papers of, and may administer oaths and affirmations to and examine, the issuer, underwriter, or any other person, in respect of any matter relevant to the examination, and may, in its discretion, require the production of a balance sheet exhibiting the assets and liabilities of the issuer, or its income statement, or both, to be certified to by a public or certified accountant approved by the Commission. If the issuer or underwriter shall fail to cooperate, or shall obstruct or refuse to permit the making of an examination, such conduct shall be proper ground for the issuance of a stop order."
before the commission or one of its examiners, and there produce documentary evidence and give evidence touching the matter in question.
"at which time and place registrant may appear and show cause why a stop order should not be issued suspending the effectiveness of such registration statement."
The hearing was postponed until June 18th.
On June 13, a subpoena duces tecum was issued commanding petitioner to appear before an officer of the commission on the 18th to testify with respect to his registration statement and to bring with him designated books, records, and papers, listed as follows: general ledger, subsidiary ledgers, journal, cash book, books of account and financial statements of J. Edward Jones; general ledger, journal, cash book and books of account of J. Edward Jones relating to J. Edward Jones Royalty Trust, Series "M;" all contracts, agreements and correspondence of J. Edward Jones relating to the distribution of Participation Trust Certificates in J. Edward Jones Royalty Trust, Series "M;" all correspondence and communications of J. Edward Jones with any State authority relating to the distribution of Participation Trust Certificates in J. Edward Jones Royalty Trust, Series "M."
thereto.' Such consent shall be given by the Commission with due regard to the public interest and the protection of investors."
On June 28th, petitioner filed with the court below a petition asking for a review of the commission's rulings which that court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. A petition for a writ of certiorari to review that action was denied by this Court. 297 U.S. 699.
July 3, 1935, the commission filed an application in a Federal District Court for an order requiring petitioner to appear before the examiner to give evidence in the matter of petitioner's registration statement. Petitioner appeared and challenged, among other things, the validity of the orders of the commission denying petitioner's right to withdraw his registration statement, overruling his motions to withdraw and dismiss the proceedings and refusing to quash the subpoena which had been issued and served on petitioner. The District Court denied petitioner's contentions and entered an order directing him to appear before the commission at a time and place fixed, to testify in the matter of the registration statement and to answer all pertinent questions regarding the information and documents filed by him with the commission in respect of such statement. 12 F.Supp. 210. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed this order. 79 F.2d 617.
that the Securities Act is unconstitutional, because it constitutes an attempt to exercise powers reserved to the states, and that it finds no warrant in either the commerce clause or in the power to regulate the use of the mails under the constitutional authority to establish post offices and post roads, or in any other provision of the Federal Constitution.
First. By § 8(d), when it appears to the commission that any untrue statement of a material fact has been made in the registration statement, or material facts have been omitted which are required or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, the commission may institute an inquiry to determine whether a stop order shall issue suspending the effectiveness of the registration statement. Proceeding under that section, as we have seen, the commission, before the registration statement was to become effective by the terms of § 8(a), directed that a stop order proceeding be instituted, and caused to be served on petitioner a telegraphic notice fixing a time for him to "appear and show cause why a stop order should not be issued suspending the effectiveness of such registration statement."
the erection of a building or other structure, of which suit the defendant has notice, the hands of the defendant are effectually tied pending a hearing and determination, even though no restraining order or preliminary injunction be issued. We briefly review some of the decisions.
In Daniel v. Ferguson, L.R.  2 Ch. 27, suit had been brought to restrain defendant from building so as to darken plaintiff's lights. Notice of motion for a temporary injunction to be made upon a designated future day was served on the defendant. After receiving notice, the defendant put on a large number of men and proceeded with his building, running a wall up to a height of about 39 feet from the ground before the injunction was granted. The court, without regard to the ultimate rights of the parties, held that the wall thus run up by defendant should be torn down at once, as an attempt to anticipate the order of the court. A like situation was presented in Von Joel v. Hornsey, L.R.  2 Ch. 774. In that case, the evidence showed that defendant had repeatedly evaded attempts to serve him with process, and in the meantime had gone on with the building. Again, without regard to the ultimate rights of the parties, the court directed defendant to pull down that part of the building thus erected.
"we will do here. We will restore the injunction, without passing upon the merits of the case. They will be considered when it comes here upon final hearing."
"where a bill for an injunction has been filed, and the court has acquired jurisdiction of both the person and the subject matter of the suit, and the defendant does any act which the bill seeks to enjoin, such party acts at his peril and subject to the power of the court to compel a restoration of the status."
See also Konig v. M. & C.C. of Baltimore, 126 Md. 606, 627, 95 A. 478.
peril and subject to the power of the court to restore the status, wholly irrespective of the merits as they may be ultimately decided. 1 High on Injunctions (4th Ed.), § 5(a).
We hold the principle of this rule to be applicable to the present case. When proceedings were instituted by the commission and the registrant was notified and called upon to show cause why a stop order should not be issued, the practical effect was to suspend, pending the inquiry, all action of the registrant under his statement. Unless the registration statement is effective, the issuer of a security who makes use of the mails or of the instrumentalities of interstate commerce to sell the security or to carry the same for the purposes of sale or delivery after sale, section 5(a) of the act is liable to severe penalties of fine and imprisonment. § 24. The word "effective," as here employed, connotes completeness of operative force and freedom to act. And a registration statement which, while still in fieri, is brought under official challenge in respect of its validity and subjected to an official proceeding aimed at its destruction, cannot be so characterized until the challenge is determined in favor of the registrant. In the meantime, since he can act only at his peril, the registration statement can in no real sense be called effective.
Second. In this situation, does a registrant have the unqualified right to withdraw his registration statement or, in other words, to dismiss a pending proceeding by which, for his own advantage, he is seeking the use of the mails and the instrumentalities of interstate commerce? If he have such right, there is no basis for the exercise of discretion in respect of the matter on the part of the commission; for it is obvious that discretion does not exist where there is no power to act except in one way. Cf. Detroit v. Detroit City Ry. Co., 55 F. 569, 573; Ex parte Skinner & Eddy Corp., 265 U. S. 86, 265 U. S. 93.
The act contains no provision upon the subject, and it may not be construed as attempting to confer upon the commission an arbitrary power, under rule or otherwise, to deny, without reason, a motion to dismiss. We are unable to find any precedent for the assumption of such power on the part of an administrative body, and we go to the practice and rules of the courts in order to determine by analogy the scope and limit of the power; for at least in the absence of a statute to the contrary, the power of a commission to refuse to dismiss a proceeding on motion of the one who instituted it cannot be greater than the power which may be exercised by the judicial tribunals of the land under similar circumstances. Both parties here seem to recognize the appositeness of this test.
"It is very clear from an examination of the authorities, English and American, that the right of a complainant to dismiss his bill without prejudice, on payment of costs, was, of course, except in certain cases. . . . The exception was where a dismissal of the bill would prejudice the defendants in some other way than by the mere prospect of being harassed and vexed by future litigation of the same kind. "
"The right to dismiss, if it exists, is absolute. It does not depend on the reasons which the plaintiff offers for his action. The fact that he may not have disclosed all his reasons, or may not have given the real one, cannot affect his right."
"The usual ground for denying a complainant in equity the right to dismiss his bill without prejudice at his own costs is that the cause has proceeded so far that the defendant is in a position to demand on the pleadings an opportunity to seek affirmative relief, and he would be prejudiced by being remitted to a separate action. Having been put to the trouble of getting his counter-case properly pleaded and ready, he may insist that the cause proceed to a decree. . . ."
"The government had not, when the case was dismissed, given any time or expense to the preparation and filing of a cross-bill or of the evidence to sustain it. It had not taken any action in respect to the cause which entitled it to say that it would be prejudiced by a dismissal within the meaning of the authorities. It suddenly was awakened by the motion to dismiss to the fact that, by eighteen months' delay, it was losing a possible opportunity to litigate a cross-claim in the Court of Claims and without a jury. We think the same rule should obtain in the procedure of the Court of Claims as in federal courts of law and equity in respect to the dismissal of cases without prejudice. "
"to permit the plaintiff to discontinue even though the defendant cannot have affirmative relief under the pleadings and though his only prejudice be the vexation and expense of a possible second suit upon the same cause of action."
"Any registration statement or any amendment thereto may be withdrawn upon the request of the registrant if the commission consents thereto. . . . Such consent shall be given by the commission with due regard to the public interest and the protection of investors."
This regulation is quite as general as the rule of the common law, and the possibility that the same registration may be attempted in the future is not within its terms any more than it is within the terms of the common law rule. The question under the regulation is whether due regard to the public interest and the protection of investors requires that the withdrawal be denied. The test is the absence or presence of prejudice to the public or investors; and, plainly enough, under the decisions of this Court, the doctrine that a dismissal must be granted if no prejudice be shown beyond the prospect of another suit, unless there be a specific rule of court to the contrary, is applicable, and the withdrawal should have been allowed as of course.
"an unlimited privilege of withdrawal would have the effect of allowing registrants whose statements are defective, to withdraw before a stop order was issued and then to submit another statement with slight changes."
emphatically says that no steps had been taken looking to the issue of the securities, and this is not denied. So far as the record shows, there were no investors, existing or potential, to be affected. The conclusion seems inevitable that an abandonment of the application was of no concern to anyone except the registrant. The possibility of any other interest in the matter is so shadowy, indefinite, and equivocal that it must be put out of consideration as altogether unreal. Under these circumstances, the right of the registrant to withdraw his application would seem to be as absolute as the right of any person to withdraw an ungranted application for any other form of privilege in respect of which he is at the time alone concerned.
"would end the effect of filing it and there is no authority under § 19(b) to issue the commission subpoena, and it could not be enforced by order of the District Court under § 22(b)."
"It may be that it is the obnoxious thing in its mildest and least repulsive form; but illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing in that way, namely, by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes of procedure. . . . It is the duty of courts to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachments thereon. Their motto should be obsta principiis."
fatal consequences of a supreme autocracy, become submerged by a multitude of minor invasions of personal rights, less destructive but no less violative of constitutional guaranties.
Third. The proceeding for a stop order having thus disappeared, manifestly it cannot serve as a basis for the order of the district court compelling petitioner to appear, give testimony, and produce his private books and papers for inspection by the commission. But the commission contends that the order may rest upon the general power to conduct investigations which it says is conferred by § 19(b). The difficulty with that is that the investigation was undertaken for the declared and sole purpose of determining whether a stop order should issue. The first action taken by the commission was on May 20th, four days before the registration was to become effective under the statute. The commission then, after averring that, upon reasonable grounds, it believed the registration statement was false in material facts, directed that stop order proceedings be instituted against the statement. It never has averred or directed anything else. This action was followed by a notice containing like recitals of a more detailed character, and calling upon the registrant to appear and show cause why a stop order should not be issued suspending the effectiveness of the statement. It was upon this direction and notice that all subsequent proceedings were had, and upon which they must stand or fall. We do not interpret the order of the district court, the substance of which has already been stated, as resting upon a different view.
a mere truism to say that the end must be a legitimate one to justify the means. The citizen, when interrogated about his private affairs, has a right before answering to know why the inquiry is made, and if the purpose disclosed is not a legitimate one, he may not be compelled to answer. Since here the only disclosed purpose for which the investigation was undertaken had ceased to be legitimate when the registrant rightfully withdrew his statement, the power of the commission to proceed with the inquiry necessarily came to an end. Dissociated from the only ground upon which the inquiry had been based, and no other being specified, further pursuit of the inquiry, obviously, would become what Mr. Justice Holmes characterized as "a fishing expedition . . . for the chance that something discreditable might turn up" (Ellis v. Interstate Commerce Comm'n, 237 U. S. 434, 237 U. S. 445) -- an undertaking which uniformly has met with judicial condemnation. In re Pacific Ry. Comm'n, 32 F. 241, 250; Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S. 168, 103 U. S. 190-193, 103 U. S. 195-196; Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616; Harriman v. Interstate Commerce Comm'n, 211 U. S. 407, 211 U. S. 419; Federal Trade Comm'n v. American Tobacco Co., 264 U. S. 298, 264 U. S. 305-307.
"A general, roving, offensive, inquisitorial, compulsory investigation, conducted by a commission without any allegations, upon no fixed principles, and governed by no rules of law, or of evidence, and no restrictions except its own will or caprice, is unknown to our constitution and laws, and such an inquisition would be destructive of the rights of the citizen, and intolerable tyranny. Let the power once be established, and there is no knowing where the practice under it would end."
The fear that some malefactor may go unwhipped of justice weighs as nothing against this just and strong condemnation of a practice so odious. And, indeed, the fear itself has little of substance upon which to rest. The federal courts are open to the government, and the grand jury abides as the appropriate constitutional medium for the preliminary investigation of crime and the presentment of the accused for trial.
273 U. S. 28, 273 U. S. 29, and cases cited. If the action here of the commission be upheld, it follows that production and inspection may be enforced not only of books and private papers of the guilty, but those of the innocent as well, notwithstanding the proceeding for registration, so far as the power of the commission is concerned, has been brought to an end by the complete and legal withdrawal of the registration statement.
Exercise of "such a power would be more pernicious to the innocent than useful to the public," and approval of it must be denied, if there were no other reason for denial, because, like an unlawful search for evidence, it falls upon the innocent as well as upon the guilty, and unjustly confounds the two. Entick v. Carrington, 19 Howell St.Tr. 1030, 1074, followed by this Court in Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 116 U. S. 629-630. No one can read these two great opinions, and the opinions in the Pacific Ry. Comm'n case, from which the foregoing quotation is made, without perceiving how closely allied in principle are the three protective rights of the individual -- that against compulsory self-accusation, that against unlawful searches and seizures, and that against unlawful inquisitorial investigations. They were among those intolerable abuses of the Star Chamber, which brought that institution to an end at the hands of the Long Parliament in 1640. Even the shortest step in the direction of curtailing one of these rights must be halted in limine lest it serve as a precedent for further advances in the same direction or for wrongful invasions of the others.
Fourth. The foregoing disposes of the case and requires a reversal of the judgment of the lower court. In that view, it becomes unnecessary to consider the constitutional validity of the act.
A subpoena duces tecum was issued by the commission on June 13 before any attempt had been made to withdraw the registration statement. On June 18, the day of the attempted withdrawal, there was issued a second subpoena commanding the registrant to appear and testify, and this was served upon him by the marshal. Then and for months earlier, a standing regulation gave warning to him and to the world that, without the consent of the commission, there could be no withdrawal of a statement once placed upon the files. I am persuaded that the rule is valid; that the commission had abundant reasons for maintaining jurisdiction, and that notice of withdrawal did not nullify the writ.
The subpoena flouted by the witness was issued under § 19(b), of the statute as well as under § 8(e). So the sworn petition for commission explicitly informs us. It was issued in aid of any legitimate inquiry that the commission had authority to initiate and prosecute by reason of a false and defective statement then part of the official records. Nothing in the case gives color to the argument that the witness was to be subjected to a roving examination without the restraints of pleadings or bounds analogous thereto. On the contrary, the order of the District Court upholding the subpoena directs him to make answer to questions pertinent to the documents already filed with the commission, to these and nothing more. If the petitioner is to prevail in his attack upon the writ, it will have to be on broader grounds than those of form and method. He must be able to make good his argument that, by the mere announcement of withdrawal, he achieved results analogous to those of a writ of prohibition.
Recklessness and deceit do not automatically excuse themselves by notice of repentance. Under § 24 of the Act, there is the possibility -- at times the likelihood -- of penal liability. A statement willfully false or willfully defective is a penal offense to be visited, upon conviction, with fine or imprisonment. Under § 12, there is the possibility, if not the likelihood, of liability for damages. The statement now in question had been effective for over twenty days, and the witness did not couple his notice of withdrawal with an affidavit or even a declaration that securities had not been sold. Nor is the statute lacking in machinery with which to set these liabilities in motion upon appropriate occasion. Under § 19(b), plenary authority is conferred on the commission to conduct all investigations believed to be necessary and proper for the enforcement of the act and of any of its provisions. There will be only partial attainment of the ends of public justice unless retribution for the past is added to prevention for the future. But the opinion of the court teaches us that, however flagrant the offense and however laudable the purpose to uncover and repress it, investigations under § 19(b) will be thwarted on the instant when once the statement of the registrant has been effectively withdrawn. If that is so, or even indeed if the effect of the retraction is to embarrass the inquiry -- to cloud the power to continue -- the fairness of the rule is proved out of the mouths of its accusers. If such consequences are inherent in a privilege of withdrawal indiscriminately bestowed, there is need of some restraint upon the power of the wrongdoer to mitigate the penalties attaching to his wrong. Shall the truth be shown forth or buried in the archives? The commission is to determine in the light of all the circumstances, including its information as to the conduct of the applicant, whether the public interest will be prompted by forgetting and forgiving. Bronx Brass Foundry, Inc. v. Irving Trust Co., 297 U. S. 230.
such a nature that, if chargeable to him at all, they can hardly have been made otherwise than with criminal intent. To give the investigating officer an opportunity to reach down into the hidden wells of knowledge and the more hidden wells of motive is the very purpose of the regulation by which the proceeding is kept open after the registrant has tried to end it.
The opinion of the court reminds us of the dangers that wait upon the abuse of power by officialdom unchained. The warning is so fraught with truth that it can never be untimely. But timely too is the reminder, as a host of impoverished investors will be ready to attest, that there are dangers in untruths and half truths when certificates masquerading as securities pass current in the market. There are dangers in spreading a belief that untruths and half truths, designed to be passed on for the guidance of confiding buyers, are to be ranked as peccadillos, or even perhaps as part of the amenities of business. When wrongs such as these have been committed or attempted, they must be dragged to light and pilloried. To permit an offending registrant to stifle an inquiry by precipitate retreat on the eve of his exposure is to give immunity to guilt, to encourage falsehood and evasion, to invite the cunning and unscrupulous to gamble with detection. If withdrawal without leave may check investigation before securities have been issued, it may do as much thereafter, unless indeed consistency be thrown to the winds, for, by the teaching of the decision, withdrawal without leave is equivalent to a stop order, with the result that forthwith there is nothing to investigate. The statute and its sanctions become the sport of clever knaves.
order. It cannot be an immunity from impertinent intrusion into matters of strictly personal concern: the intimacies of private business lose their self-regarding quality after they have been spread upon official records to induce official action. In such circumstances, the relevance of Entick v. Carrington, 19 Howell St.Tr. 1030, 1074, or Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 116 U. S. 629, or In re Pacific Railway Comm'n, 32 F. 241, 250, is not readily perceived. Cf. Interstate Commerce Comm'n v. Brimson, 154 U. S. 447, 154 U. S. 469, 154 U. S. 478. If the immunity rests upon some express provision of the Constitution, the opinion of the court does not point us to the article or section. If its source is to be found in some impalpable essence, the spirit of the Constitution or the philosophy of government favored by the Fathers, one may take leave to deny that there is anything in that philosophy or spirit whereby the signer of a statement filed with a regulatory body to induce official action is protected against inquiry into his own purpose to deceive. The argument for immunity lays hold of strange analogies. A commission which is without coercive powers, which cannot arrest or amerce or imprison though a crime has been uncovered, or even punish for contempt, but can only inquire and report, the propriety of every question in the course of the inquiry being subject to the supervision of the ordinary courts of justice, is likened with denunciatory fervor to the Star Chamber of the Stuarts. Historians may find hyperbole in the sanguinary simile.
The rule now assailed was wisely conceived and lawfully adopted to foil the plans of knaves intent upon obscuring or suppressing the knowledge of their knavery.
The witness was under a duty to respond to the subpoena.
MR. JUSTICE BRANDEIS and MR. JUSTICE STONE join in this opinion.

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