Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/300/297/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-12-14 05:52:14
Document Index: 71496547

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 22', '§ 821', '§ 3', '§ 845', '§ 12', '§ 3']

SWAYNE & HOYT, LTD. V. UNITED STATES, 300 U. S. 297 - Volume 300 - 1937 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 300 > SWAYNE & HOYT, LTD. V. UNITED STATES, 300 U. S. 297 (1937) > Full Text
1. Acting under the Shipping Act and an Executive Order purporting to transfer the functions of the Shipping Board to the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary, after hearings, found that rates filed by a certain group of carriers were unduly prejudicial to shippers and other carriers and ordered their cancellation. Held that the
Appeal from a decree of the District Court of three judges dismissing the bill in a suit brought by intercoastal marine carriers to set aside an order of the Secretary of Commerce requiring the cancellation of certain rates.
The tariff, continuing the contract system in use by the Conference, provided for "contract rates" for specified commodities, to be enjoyed by shippers who agree with the Conference, by written contract, to make all their shipments of those commodities by vessel of the Conference members for a specified period. The tariff rates on the same commodities for shippers not entering into contracts were $2 per ton higher than the contract rates. In 1934, the Secretary of Commerce ordered an investigation by the Shipping Board Bureau of the lawfulness of the contract rate system (see § 22 of the Shipping Act, 39 Stat. 736, 46 U.S.C. § 821, and § 3 of the Intercoastal Shipping Act of 1933, 47 Stat. 1426, 46 U.S.C. § 845). The ensuing report condemned the discrimination, and on July 3, 1935, the Secretary ordered the appellants to cease charging the higher rates to shippers who had not entered into contracts.
First. Since the appeal was taken, the contention that the transfer to the Secretary, by Executive Order (No. 6166, § 12), of powers conferred by the Shipping Act on the United States Shipping Board was unauthorized by the terms of Title 4 of the Legislative Appropriation Act
It is well settled that Congress may, by enactment not otherwise inappropriate, "ratify . . . acts which it
might have authorized," see Mattingly v. District of Columbia, 97 U. S. 687, 97 U. S. 690, and give the force of law to official action unauthorized when taken. Wilson v. Shaw, 204 U. S. 24, 204 U. S. 32; United States v. Heinszen & Co., 206 U. S. 370, 206 U. S. 382; Hamilton v. Dillin, 21 Wall. 73, 88 U. S. 96; Chuoco Tiaco v. Forbes, 228 U. S. 549, 228 U. S. 556; Rafferty v. Smith, Bell & Co., 257 U. S. 226, 257 U. S. 232; Charlotte Harbor R. Co. v. Welles, 260 U. S. 8, 260 U. S. 11; Hodges v. Snyder, 261 U. S. 600, 261 U. S. 603. And we think that Congress, irrespective of any doctrine of ratification, has, by the enactment of the statutes mentioned, in effect confirmed and approved the exercise by the Secretary of powers originally conferred on the Shipping Board.
And see Hecht v. Malley, 265 U. S. 144, 265 U. S. 164. Here, the retroactive application of the curative act impairs no substantial right or equity of appellants; their rights to an administrative hearing and determination, and to a judicial review, have been as fully preserved as if the act had been adopted at the date of the Executive Order. The proceedings were conducted by the Secretary in the name of the United States, cf. United States v. Heinszen & Co., supra, at 206 U. S. 385, by virtue of the 1932 Act and the Executive Order. The consequences of the validating statute are free of the elements of novelty and surprise which have led to condemnation, as unreasonable and arbitrary, of other retroactive legislation. See
As pointed out by this Court in United States Navigation Co. v. Cunard S.S. Co., Ltd., 284 U. S. 474, the provisions of the Shipping Act which confer upon the Shipping Board authority over rates and practices of carriers by water, and prescribe the mode of its exercise, closely parallel those of the Interstate Commerce Act establishing the corresponding relations of the Interstate Commerce Commission to carriers by rail. Both have set up an administrative agency to whose informed judgment
In determining whether the present discrimination was undue or unreasonable, the Secretary was called upon to ascertain whether its effect was to exclude other carriers from the traffic, and, if so, whether, as appellants urge, it operated to secure stability of rates with consequent stability of service, and, so far as either effect was found to ensue, to weigh the disadvantages of the former against the advantages of the latter. This was clearly recognized in the report upon which the present order is based. It states that the danger of cut-throat competition was lessened by § 3 of the Intercoastal Shipping Act of 1933, and that the contract system tends to create a monopoly. In view of the assurance of reasonable rate stability afforded by the Act of 1933, the Secretary concluded that this was the real purpose of the contract rate.
On the other hand, there was substantial evidence from which the Secretary could infer that the contract rate system would tend to give to the Conference carriers a monopoly by excluding competition from new lines. The secretary of the Conference testified that approximately 64 percent of the westbound port to port tonnage moved under the contract rate. Representatives of lines not members of the Conference stated that the tonnage left was not enough to make the operation of a new line profitable, and that the contract system precluded the employment of their idle steamers in the Gulf trade. The
There was thus evidence before the Secretary which tended to show that the contract rate system, by reason of the conditions prevailing in the traffic, had established a practical monopoly of cargoes moving from the Gulf ports to ports on the Pacific coast, from which competing carriers were excluded by the provisions of the Conference agreement except on terms which were practically prohibitive, and that, since the adoption of the Intercoastal Shipping Act of 1933, stability of service, which appellants urge as justification for the system, could be secured without a contract rate. As the Secretary has interpreted
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