Court Opinion

ID: 9418104
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:08:46.919951+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:21:55.682816
License: Public Domain

Mb. Justice Moody,
dissenting.
I am unable to agree in the judgment of the court. Under ordinary circumstances, where the judgment rests exclusively, as it does here, upon a mere interpretation of the words of a law, which may be readily changed by the lawmaking branches of. the Government, if they be so minded, a- difference of opin*505ion may well be left without expression. But where the judgment is a judicial condemnation of an act of a coordinate branch of our Government it is so grave a step that no member of the court can escape his own responsibility, or be justified in suppressing his own views, if unhappily they have not found expression in those of his associates. Moved by this consideration, and solicitous to maintain what seem to me the lawful powers of the Nation, I have no doubt of my duty to disclose fully the opinions which, to my regret, differ in some respects from those of some of my brethren.
The only question which these cases present is the constitutionality of the Employers’ Liability Act, which, briefly stated, provides a remedy for the injury or death of the em~ ployés of .territorial, interstate and foreign common carriers, caused by the negligence of the carrier. The defendants were both interstate- carriers, and these actions were brought to recover for the deaths of their employés who, at the time, were engaged in interstate transportation. The judgment of the court does not deny that it is within the power of the Congress to provide a remedy for the injury or death of employés engaged in the conduct of territorial, interstate and foreign commerce. It rests upon the ground that this statute is -unconstitutional, because it seeks to do more than that, and regulates the liability of employers while engaged in intrastate commerce or in manufacture. At the threshold I may say that I agree that the Congress has not the power directly to regulate the purely .internal commerce of the States, and that I understand that to be the opinion of every member of the court.
The constitutionality of the act was attacked in the arguments before us upon three grounds. First, because it seeks to control by provisions so inseparable that they are incapable of resolution into their several parts, not only the territorial, foreign and interstate business of carriers, but also their intrastate business, which, by the Constitution, is reserved for the government of the States. Second, because, if the act should *506be interpreted as not intruding upon the domain of the States by directly regulating commerce exclusively within the States, yet, that legislation fixing the obligation of employers engaged in interstate and foreign commerce to their employés in such commerce, for injuries suffered by the latter in the course of the employment, is not the regulation of commerce, and, therefore, is not within any power conferred by the Constitution upon Congress. Third, because, even if the act is concerned with a subject which is within' the power of Congress, yet the specific changes made by it in the common law rules governing the relations of employer and employé exceed the legislative power or violate the constitutional prohibition? which restrict that power.
I am of opinion that the act is not open to any of the' constitutional objections urged against it, and shall consider all of the objections in the order in which I have stated them.
In the consideration of the scope of the statute for the purpose of determining whether it seeks to control that part off commerce, which is beyond the power of Congress and subject only to the government of the States, it is to be observed that the opening words of Congress are in recognition of the limitation of its authority and of the constitutional distinction between commerce among the States and with foreign nations on the one hand and commerce within the States on the other hand. The commands of-the law are addressed only to'“common carriers engaged in trade and commerce ” in the Territories, with foreign nations, and among the States, and with respect to carriers engaged in commerce within the States the law is impressively silent. The expression and enumeration of the parts of commerce which are clearly within the control of Congress is equivalent to an exclusion of the part which is not within its control. In the careful selection of the language of 'this law the legislators may Well have had in mind the words of Chief Justice Marshall which have received the constant approval of this court. He said (in Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 194, 195)
*507“The subject to which the power is next applied is to ‘commerce among the several States.’ . . . Commerce among the States cannot stop at the external boundary line of each State, but may be introduced into the interior.
“It is not intended to say that these words comprehend that commerce, which is completely internal, which is carried on between man and man in a State, or between different parts of the same State, and which does not extend to or affect other States. Such a power would be inconvenient, and is certainly unnecessary.
“ Comprehensive as the word ‘ among ’ is, it may very properly be restricted to that commerce which concerns more States than one. The phrase is not one which would probably have been selected to indicate the completely interior traffic of a State, because it is not an apt phrase for that purpose; and the enumeration of the particular classes of commerce to which the power was to be extended would not have been made had the intention been to extend the power to every description. The enumeration presupposes something not enumerated; and that something, if we regard the language or the subject of the sentence, must be the exclusively internal commerce of a State.. The genius and character of the whole Government seem to be, that its action is to be applied to all the external concerns of the Nation, and to those internal concerns which affect the States generally; but not to those which are completely within a particular State, which do not affect other States, and with which it is not necessary to interfere, for the purpose of executing some of the general powers of the Government. The completely."internal commerce of a State then, may be considered as reserved to the State itself.”
These words of the Chief Justice have been regarded as delimiting accurately the constitutional boundaries of the respective powers over commerce of the Nation and the States. They have been frequently repeated, and, though differences have arisen in their application to the. complicated affairs of mankind, never doubted, and universally approved. It is not *508easy to believe that Congress intended to dispute their authority. The ■ reasoning which was thought worthy for the interpretation of the Constitution will not be misapplied if it be employed in the interpretation of a law passed in pursuance of the powers conferred, by the Constitution. Why should it not be said of the law as it was said of the Constitution, that “ the enumeration of the particular classes of commerce to which the power was to be extended, would not have been máde ■ had the intention been to extend the power to every description. The enumeration presupposes something not enumerated; and that something, if we regard the language, . . - . must be the .exclusively internal commerce of the State.” From the enumeration of territorial, interstate, and foreign commerce, and. the omission of the internal commerce of the. State, is it hot clear that the commerce which is exclusively internal to the State, and does not affect any other character Of commerce, was intended to be outside the purview of the law? Does not a proper respect for the acts of Congress and the strong presumption that it will not exceed its powers, so frequently declared by this court, require us to believe that when the kinds of commerce within its undoubted control are carefully enumerated all the. words of the law, however general, are to be. ref erred solely to that commerce and no other?
If carriers were separated by a clear line of division, so. that. one class were engaged exclusively in interstate and foreign commerce, and the other class were engaged exclusively in commerce within the States, it would not, of course, occur to any mind that.'this act had.any reference whatever to the state carriers. But there is no such hard and fast line of division'. Carriers often, and where they are railroads, usually are, as a matter of fact, engaged both in interstate and foreign commerce over which Congress has the control, and intrastate commerce over which the States have the control. Applying the law under consideration to the conditions as they actually exist, it is said that its words are só general and sweeping as *509to comprehend within.its benefits not only the employés of the interstate carrier engaged in the business of interstate carriage, but also the employés of the same carrier engaged in the business of intrastate carriage which it may and usually does conduct. Counsel illustrated their argument by suggesting that if a carrier doing an interstate business on the Pacific slope also conducted a local trolley line wholly along the Atlantic seaboard within a single State, an employé on the local trolley line would, by the terms of this act, be entitled to its benefits. If such be the necessary interpretation of the statute plainly it exceeds the power of Congress, for Congress certainly has no right to regulate the purely internal commerce of a State. Nor can the statute be saved by rejecting that part of it which is unconstitutional because its provisions are .single and incapable of separation. The vicious part,' if such exist, is so intermingled with that' which is good that it cannot be eliminated without destroying the whole structure.
Which • interpretation, then,.' should be adopted? That which regards the law as prescribing the liability of the carrier • only to those employés who are engaged in the work of interstate and-foreign commerce, or that which extends the benefits of the law also to those employés engaged in work which has no relation whatever to such commerce. In answering this question it must not be forgotten that, if the latter interpretation be adopted, in the opinion of the whole court the act is beyond the constitutional power of Congress. That is a consideration of vast importance, because the court has never exercised the mighty power of declaring the.acts of a coordinate branch .of the Government void except where there is no possible and sensible construction of the act which is consistent with the fundamental organic law. The presumption that other branches of the Government will restrain themselves within the scope of their authority, and the respect which is due to them and their acts, admits of no other attitude from this'court. ■ This is more than a canon of interpretation, it' is a rule of' conduct resting upon considerations of public *510policy*, and, in the exercise of the delicate function of condemning the acts of coordinate and equal branches of the Government, under the same obligation to 'respect the Constitution as ourselves, has been observed from the beginning. I regard the rule as so vital and fundamental in this and all other parts of the case that I select almost at random some expressions of it by different justices of this court. When the power to declare an act of Congress void was still undecided, Mr. Justice Chase said in Hylton v. United States, 3 Dall. 171, p. 175: “If the court have such power, I am free to declare that I will never exercise it, but in a very, clear case.” Mr. Justice Strong said in The Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 457, p. 531: “It is incumbent, therefore, upon those who affirm the unconstitutionality of an act of Congress to show clearly that it is in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. It is not sufficient for them that they succeed in raising a doubt.” In The Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U. S. 82, Mr. Justice Miller said, p. 96: “When this court is called on in the course of the administration of the law to consider whether an act of Congress, or any other department of the Government, is within the constitutional authority of that department, a due respect for a coordinate branch of the Government requires that we shall decide that it has transcended its powers only when that is so plain that we cannot avoid the duty.” In Nicol v. Ames, 173 U. S; 509, Mr. Justice Peckham said, p. 514: “It is always an exceedingly grave and delicate duty to decide upon the constitutionality of an act of the Congress of the United States. The presumption, as has frequently been said, is in favor of the validity of the act, and it is only when the question is free from any reasonable doubt that the court should hold an act ('+' the lawmaking power of the Nation to be in violation of that fundamental instrument upon which all the powers of the Government rest.” Mr. Justice White in Buttfield v. Stranahan, 192 U. S. 470, said, p. 492: “In examining the statute in order to determine its constitutionality we must be guided by the well-settled rule that every intendment is in favor of its validity. *511It must be presumed to be constitutional, unless its repugnancy to.the Constitution clearly appears.” 'Mr. Chief Justice Waite in The Sinking Fund Cases, 99 U. S. 700, said, p; 718: “It is our duty, when required in the regular course of judicial proceedings, to declare an act of Congress void if not within the legislative power of the United States; but this declaradoshould never be made except in a clear casé. Every possible presumption is in favor of the validity of a statute, and this continues until the contrary is shown beyond a rational doubt. One branch of the Government cannot encroach upon the domain of another without danger. The safety of our institutions depends in no small degree on a strict observance of this salutary rule.” Mr. Justice Story, in United States v. Coombs, 12 Pet. 72, said, p. 76: “If the section admits of two interpretations, one of which brings it within and the other presses it beyond the constitutional authority of Congress, it will become our duty to adopt the' former construction; because a presumption never ought to be indulged, that Congress meant to-exercise or usurp any unconstitutional authority, unless that conclusion is forced upon the court' by language altogether unambiguous.”
Citations of this character might be multiplied, but to no good purpose. There is no doubt that the rule exists, there is no doubt that it is wise, and promotes the mutual respect between the different branches of the Government which is so essential to the welfare of all, and that it requires us, if it. is within our power, to’ give to the words of the statute before us a meaning which will confine its provisions to subjects within the control of Congress. If two interpretations are possible our plain duty is to adopt that which sustains the statute, as a lawful exercise of authority and not that which condemns it as a usurpation.
The argument which supports a construction of the statute which would include within its provisions intrastate commerce is readily stated. It is said that’ “ every common carrier” engaged in territorial, foreign, or interstate trade is made *512“liable to any of its employés . . . for all damages which may result from the negligence of any of its officers, agents, or employés, or by reason of any defect" in its instrumentalities, and that, as there is no qualification of or exception to the generality of the language descriptive of the employés or instrumentalities, it-must be deemed to include those engaged and used solely in intrastate commerce, and even in manufacture, as well as those engaged and used in other commerce. But I venture to think that' this argument rests upon too narrow ground. It contemplates merely the words of the statute; it shuts out the light which the Constitution sheds upon them; it overlooks the significance of the enumeration of the kinds of commerce clearly within the National control and the omission of the commerce beyond that control—an enumeration and omission which characterizes, colors and restrains every word of the statute—and it neglects the presumptions in faVor of the validity of the law and of the obedience of Congress to the commands of the Constitution, which cannot with propriety be disregarded by this court. Taking into account these missing aids to construction, it becomes quite easy,' quite reasonable, and, in my opinion, quite necessary, to construe the act as conferring its benefits only upon employés engaged in some fashion in the commerce which is enumerated in it and is undoubtedly under the control of Congress. Even without these guides for discovering the intent of Congress, which the uniform practice of the court compels us to use, it is natural to suppose that, when territorial, interstate, and foreign carriers only are mentioned and every such carrier is declared to be liable “to any of its employés,”' only its employés in such commerce are intended. With those guides the conclusion appears to me irresistible, for they show that if the words, “any of its employés,” in the context where they are used, are capable of meaning all of the employés upon any kind of work, yet their generality should be restrained-so as to include only those who are subject to the power of the lawmaking, body. The case of McCullough v. Virginia, 172 *513U. S. 102, is precisely in point here. An act of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia provided for refunding the state debt by the issue of coupon bonds for two-thirds of the total amount of that debt. It was enacted that the coupons should “be receivable at and after maturity for all taxes, debts, dues, and demands due the State.” There was at the time of the passage of the refunding act a provision of the constitution of Virginia requiring all school taxes to be paid in cash, and it had been held by this court that the constitutional provision disabled the Virginia legislature from providing that the coupons should be receivable for such taxes. McGahey v. Virginia, 135 U. S. 662. The argument was then made that as the statute providing for the receivability of the ■ coupons for “ all taxes, debts, dues, and demands due the State” was in part beyond the constitutional power of the legislature, the contract evidenced by that statute was entirely void. The court, speaking by Mr. Justice Brewer, answered this argument by saying, 172 U. S. 112: “It ignores the difference between, the statute and the contract, and confuses the two entirely distinct matters of' construction and validity. The statute precedes the contract. Its scope and meaning must be determined before any question will arise as to the validity of the contract which it authorizes. .It is elementary law that every statute is to be read in the light of the Constitution. However broad and general, its language, it cannot be inter-' preted as extending beyond those matters which it was within the constitutional power of the legislature to reach. It is the same rule which obtains in the interpretation of any private' contract between individuals. .That, whatever may be its words, is always to be construed in the light óf the statute; of the law then in force; of the circumstances and conditions of parties. So, although general language was introduced into the statute of 1871, it is not to be read as reaching to matters in respect to which the legislature had no constitutional power, but only as to those matters within its control. And if there were, as it seems there were, certain special taxes and dues *514which under the existing provisions of the state constitution could not -be affected by legislative action, the statute is to be read as though it in terms excluded them from its operation.” The language quoted was not obiter. The case turned upon the construction of the statute and reversed the construction by . the highest court of the State of its own statute, as well as its judgment, that the statute thus construed was inconsistent with the state constitution, because “all taxes” included taxes beyond the power .of the legislature. I am unable, to reconcile the judgment in that case with the conclusion which is reached by the court in this. The reasoning which, in that case, led the court to construe a statute providing that the coupons should be receivable for “all taxes” to mean only for such taxes as the legislature had the constitutional power to declare payable in such a manner, is.equally potent to lead the court, in the case at. bar, to construe a statute providing for the liability of the interstate and foreign carrier to “any of its employés” to mean only to any of its employés for whom Congress has the constitutional power to make such a provision. .In that case there were taxes within the legislative control, and taxes without the legislative control of the Virginia assembly; in this case there are employés within the legislative control and employés without the legislative control of Congress; in that case the statute provided for “all taxes’;” in this case the statute provides for “any employés;” in that case, examining the statute “in the light of the Constitution,” this court declared that “however broad and general its language, it cannot be interpreted as extending beyond those matters which it is within the constitutional power^of the legislature to reach,” and if it appears that there were taxes beyond the control of the legislature, that the statute should be read “ as though it in terms excluded them from its operation;” I am unable to imagine any reason why, examining the statute in this case with the aid of the same light, the court should not make the same declaration of its meaning. Moreover, it should be remembered that a circumstance lead*515ing in the same direction is present in the case at bar which was absent in that case, for, to repeat what has already been said, here the general words are used in a context which suggests, if it does not require, the less extended meaning.
It should be observed that the McCullough case was simply a case of construction. The court made no judicial amendment of the statute or exception from its provisions of any subject which came within them according to their proper meaning, ascertained with the aid of the light of the constitutional limits of the legislative power. Mr. Justice Brewer pointed out The distinction between, the construction of the statute and its validity, saying: “The statute precedes the contract. Its scope and meaning must be determined before any question will arise as to the validity of the contract which it authorizes.” Thus the case is distinguished from some others, much relied upon in the argument, which establish the proposition, that a single statutory provision is void if it is expressed in general words so used as to manifest clearly the intention to include within those words subjects beyond the constitutional power of the lawmaking body. The courts have no power to read into such a provision an exception for • the purpose of saving that which is left from' condemnation. A law which cannot endure the test of the Constitution without judicial amendment must perish. United States v. Reese, 92 U. S. 214; The Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U. S. 82; United States v. Harris, 106 U. S. 629; Baldwin v. Franks, 120 U. S. 678; United States v. Ju Toy, 198 U. S. 253. Sée Illinois &c. Railroad v. McKendree, 203 U. S. 514. But the rule derived from these cases is by no means decisive of the inquiry whether this statute must be construed as seeking to accomplish objects beyond the power of Congress. It can be made decisive only by begging the very question to be determined, and, in the words of Mr. Justice Brewer, confusing “the two entirely distinct matters of construction and validity.” It merely expresses the judicial duty which arises after the question of construction is determined, A critical examination' of the *516' cases shows that in each of them, in the opinion of the court, the language of the statute admitted of no possible interpretation, except that Congress intended to d§al, by a single and inseparable provision, with subjects without as well as subjects within its control. As was said in one of them, United States v. Reese, 92 U. S. 214, 220, there was “no room for construction unless it be as to the effect of the Constitution." It would be unprofitable to dwell upon all these decisions, and I content myself with the analysis of one, and that the one deemed- by- counsel who rely upon it as the most important and conclusive. In The Trade-mark cases it appeared that in an act entitled “An Act to Revise, Consolidate, and Amend the Statutes Relating to Patents and Copyrights,” provision was made for the registration of trade-marks in the Patent Office. Some years later an act was passed providing for the punishment by fine and imprisonment of any person making fraudulent use of or counterfeiting trade-marks thus registered. The cases were indictments under this later act, and the question for decision was its constitutionality. The act was supported first upon the ground that it was authorized by that part of the Constitution which confers upon Congress the authority “to promote the progress.of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective rights and -discoveries.” The court, after saying, 100 U. S. 93, “that it is a reasonable inference that this part of the statute also was in the opinion of Congress an exercise of the power found in that clause of the Constitution,” and that “it was mainly if not wholly to this clause that the advocates of the law looked -for its support,” held that this clause was not a sufficient source of authority for the act." The.act was supported, second, upon the ground that the commerce clause of the Constitution supplied the f equisi te authority to Congress. But there was not a word in the act from which it could be inferred that Congress intended to exercise the power conferred by the commerce' clause. The court, by Mr. Justice Miller, after pointing out that *517commerce within a State was beyond the control of Congress, said, p. 96: “When, therefore,' Congress undertakes to enact á law, which can only be valid as a regulation of commerce, it is reasonable to expect to find on the face of the law, or from its essential nature, that it is a regulation of commerce with foreign nations, among the several States, or with the Indian tribes.” Words' could not be more happily chosen than these, to describe what the statute in the case at bar is on its face and from its essential nature. The justice then proceeds to say: “If it is not so limited it is in excess of the power of Congress. If its main purpose be to establish a regulation applicable to all trade, to commerce at all points, especially if it is apparent that it is designed to govern the commerce wholly between citizens of the same State, it is obviously the exercise of a power riot .confided to Congress.” No words could be more happily chosen than these, to describe exactly what the statute in-the case at bar is not. The court then taking the view, upon which there cannot be two opinions, that the act intended to establish a universal system of trade-mark legislation applicable to all commerce, held the statute void, saying, p. 98: “It is not within the judicial province to give to the words used by Congress a narrower meaning than that they are manifestly intended to bear, in order that crimes may be punished which are not described in language within the constitutional power of that body.” The reasoning relied upon in .this case to overthrow the statute, if applied to the statute before us, tends to support it.
I do not wish to be understood as saying that the group of cases I am now discussing does not furnish instances where the- court has declined to limit the meaning of words in order to save the act. I only say,, that in these cases it could not be done without-violating the obvious intent of Congress as ascertained by the necessary meaning of the language it employed; in other words, that in' these cases only one interpretation was possible and there was “no room for construction.” They cannot be undw 'todd as deciding that general *518words may not, in view, of the context-where they are found, and, with the aid of the light of the Constitution, be restrained in their meaning, with the purpose and effect of giving them such- a construction that the act may be sustained as a legitimate exercise of the legislative power. If they should be so understood they would be in flat conflict with the McCullough case, and with the spirit of the interpretation that prevailed in United States v. Palmer, 3 Wheat. 610, and Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U. S. 457; In the former case it was held that an act which- punished certain offenses committed by “any person or persons” upon the high seas should not be construed as including persons who might commit such offenses on board a vessel belonging to the subjects of a foreign state; Marshall, C. J., saying, p.- 631: “The words of the section are in terms of unlimited extent. The words 1 any person or persons' are broad enough to comprehend every human being. But general words must not only be limited to cases within the jurisdiction of the State, but also to those objects- to which the legislature intended to apply them.” In the latter case it was held that an act that forbade all persons from assisting the migration into the United States of “.any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners,” under contract “ to perform labor or services of any kind,” did not include a minister of religion, though -such a person was within the letter of the stajfcute. "These cases show that we may with •propriety give to the ü^ords “any of its emplóyés” the narrower meaning, and, because such meaning saves the act from condemnation, it is, i believe, our imperative duty to adopt it. No words need, to be read into the act. It is required only that the words- airead^ there shall be applied to that commerce which Congress referred, to, namely, territorial, foreign and interstate. Thus read, the whole statute is saved and no part of it is destroyed. -
The natural meaning of the words of the statute considered together, each word receiving significance from those with which it is allied, the respect winch is due to Congress, the *519belief which. I hold that it would not intentionally overstep the clearly defined limits of its authority, and the principles of construction heretofore acted upon by this court, léad my mind to the settled conviction that the statute can be interpreted, and ought to be interpreted, as affording the remedy -therein prescribed only to the employés of foreign, interstate and territorial carriers, who are themselves engaged in some capacity in-such commerce in some of its manifold aspects. 'If this meaning be attributed to the words of the law, it is apparent that in the opinion of a majority of the court the law, in its main features at least, would be constitutional.
Entertaining these views of the meaning of the statute, I ,am compelled to go further and consider the other objections to it. I agree entirely with all that was said in the opinion of Mr. Justice White in support of the power of the Congress to enact a law of this general character, but, as I think that the judgments in these cases ought to be reversed, I cannot escape dealing with specific objections to the statute which he has not deemed it necessary to discuss. I think it better, therefore, to deal with all the questions that are necessarily raised in these cases.
I come now to the question whether the statute, thus construed, is in the execution of any power conferred by the Constitution upon the Congress. It is apparent that there is no such power unless it be found in that clause of the Constitution which authorizes Congress “to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States and with 'the Indian tribes.” It hardly needs to be said that the inability of the National Government, created by the Articles of Confederation, to deal effectively with commerce was one of the efficient causes of the call for the constitutional convention. No doubt the most urgent need of that time was a central government with powers adequate to control foreign commerce, but interstate commerce- was not. overlooked, though its principal importance then consisted in its relation to foreign commerce. [Federalist, No. 42, by Mr. Madison.] *520No one could then have foreseen the extent of the interstate commerce of our times, for no one could' forefell the employment of the forces of steam and electricity which have so wonderfully aided its development. But the statesmen of that time, confident of the future and hopeful that they might devise a government which would endure, must have under-'stood that the commerce which concerned more than "one State, from its essential nature, was in part outside the territorial jurisdiction of any State, could not be governed efficiently by a single State, and, if left outside of the' National control, would be subject to woeful embarrassment by the conflicting regulations of the several States into which, it entered." It appears in the reports of the debates that these dangers, were appreciated by the members of the convention, so far as they threatened that part of the commerce among the States which was conducted by water transportation, then the only part of such commerce of sufficient importance to attract public attention. But fortunately the spirit of the nation builder and not of the codemaker inspired and dominated the convention. ■ Its members were not content to frame a system .of laws sufficient for the present moment, which might in a few years become unsuited to or inadequate for the needs- of the people; They undertook rather the" task of devising a scheme of gov-. ernmerit and of allotting the powers usually' exercised by governments between the existing States and -the prospective Nation. Whenever such a power came under" consideration its nature'was examined, and it was then placed, in the hands'.of that governmental agency which it was supposed could exercise it most advantageously. This very power fürnishes a signal illustration of the method pursued. The convention did not determine how interstate commerce should be regulated but rather who should regulate it, and left, with certain limitations, the necessity, extent and nature of the regulátion to the contemporaneous knowledge, wisdom and discretion of the body in whom the power was vested. We may well believe that, contemplating the- subject With the enlarged vision of *521those who are building for a future'unknown or dimly discerned, and seeing clearly that interstate like foreign commerce was, in the words of the resolutions with which Randolph opened the deliberations of the convention, a matter “to which the separate States are. incompetent,' or in which the harmony of the United States .may be .interrupted by the exercise of individual legislation,” the convention v7as constrained to associate the two together in every draft of the Constitution proposed, and place them with the Indian trade, under the control of the National .legislature. Madison’s Journal, Scott’s edition, pp. 67; 161, 164, 1S5, 362, 453, 654, 656, 704, 753.
The different kinds óf commerce described have tlie common qualities that thej7 are more extensive- than the jurisdiction of a single State and liable Yojinjüry from:conflictirlg state laws, and thereby are all alike -distinguished, from the purely internal commerce -of. the States.. There is nothing in the words Of . the grant that permits the belief that the power is not coextensiye over foreign, interstate, and Indian trade, or is anything less than the whole power which any government may properly exercise over either, though it may well be that the restrictive parts of the Constitution, its prohibitions and reservations, may operate differently on different kinds of commerce, or even on different aspects of the same kind of commerce.
; It is said that Congress has never -before enacted legislation of ¿his nature for the government of interstate commerce on land, though it has for the government of such commerce upon the water and for the government of foreign commerce; that on the contrary the relations affected have been controlled by the undoubted power of the States to govern men and things Within their respective dominions; and that this omis.siojru of Congress is of controlling significance. The fundamental fallacy of this argument is that it misunderstands the ■nature of 'the. Constitution, undervalues its usefulness, and - forgets that its unchanging provisions are adaptable to the *522infinite variety of the changing conditions of our National life. Surely there is no statute of limitations which bars Congress from the exercise of any of its granted powers, nor- any authority, save that of the people whom it represents), which, may with propriety challenge the wisdom of its, choice: of the. Time when remedies shall first be applied to, what: it deems, wrong. It cannot be doubted that the exercise of a, power- for the first time may be called upon to justify- itself!. The: fact: that it is for the first time is a circumstance, to be. considered!.. But-in this case it is a circumstance whose significance disappears in the light of history. Henry Adams, a writer- of high authority, in the first chapter of his. History of the United States, has drawn a yivid picture off the conditions of our National life at the beginning of the. nineteenth century. The center of population was near Baltimore. The interior was. almost impenetrable except by the waterways and two wagon roads from Philadelphia to Pittsburg and from the Potomac to the Monongahela. The scattered settlements of what, was, then the Western country wrere severed from the seaboard settlements by mountain ranges, and there was little connection between the two almost independent peoples. There was scarcely a possibility of trade between the State? except along the seacoást and over the dangerous and uncertain rivers. “The experience of mankind,” says the author, p. 7, “proved trade to be dependent on water communications, and as yet Americans did not dream that the experience of mankind was useless to them.” We need not look beyond these conditions for an explanation why Congress, though it early and vigorously exercised its power of legislation over foreign commerce and interstate commerce by water, left it unused in respect to interstate commerce on the land. As population multiplied, bringing the isolated settlements nearer to each other, wealth increased, creating a wider demand for commodities, and- roads and bridges came to be better and more numerous, doubtless overland commerce was somewhat stimulated. But the iron restrictions which nature had placed upon land transportation *523remained constant until they were unloosed by the operation of the steam railroad. The system of steam transportation began modestly by the construction of short lines, often wholly within a single State. These lines were lengthened by extensions and consolidations, until at the present time the States of the Union are all bound together by a network of interstate railroads. Their operation, aided by the quick and ■ cheap transmission of the mails, and the communication of intelligence by electricity, has transformed the commerce of the country. Interstate commerce by land, once so slight as to be unworthy of the attention of the National legislature, has come to be the most important part of all trade, and it is not too much to say that the daily needs of the factory and the household are no longer dependent upon , the resources of the locality, but are largely supplied by the products of other States.
It was not reasonably to be expected that a phenomenon so contrary to the experience of mankind, so vast, so rapidly developing and changing, as the growth of land commerce 'among the States, would speedily be appreciated in all its aspects, or would at once call forth the exercise of all the unused power vested in Congress by the commerce clause of the Constitution. Such a phenomenon demands study and experience. The habit of our people, accentuated by our system of representative government, is not so much in legislation to anticipate problems as it is to deal with them after experience has shown them to exist. So Congress has exercised its power sparingly, step by step, and has acted only when experience seemed to it to require action. A description of its action in this respect was given in In re Debs, 158 U. S. 564, where it was said, p. 579: “Congress has exercised the power granted in respect, to interstate'commerce in a variety of legislative acts. Passing by for the present all that legislation in respect to commerce by water, and considering only that which bears upon railroad interstate transportation (for this is the specific matter involved in this case), these acts *524may be noticed: First. That of June 15, 1866, c. 124, 14 Stat. 66, carried into the Revised Statutes as § 5258, which provides: ‘Whereas the Constitution of the United States confers upon Congress, in express terms, the power to regulate corm merce among the several States, to establish post roads, and to raise and support armies ^Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every railroad company in the United States whose road is operated by steam, its successors and assigns, be,-and is hereby, authorized to carry upon and over its road, boats, bridges, and ferries all passengers, troops, government supplies, mails, freight, and property on their way from any State to another State, and to receive compensation therefor, and to connect with roads of other States so as to form continuous lines for the transportation of the same to the place of destination.’ Second. That of March 3, 1873, c. 252, 17 Stat. 584 (Rev. Stat. §§4386 to 4389), which regulates the transportation of live stock, over interstate railroads. Third. That of May 29, 1884, c. 60, § 6, 23 Stat. 31, 32, prohibiting interstate transportation by railroads of .live stock affected with -any contagious or infectious disease. Fourth. That of February 4, 1887, c. 104, 24 Stat. 379, with its amendments of March 2, 1889, c. 382, 25 Stat. 855, and February 10, 1891, c. 128, 26 Stat. 743, known as the ‘Interstate Commerce Act,’ by which a commission was created with large powers of regulation and control of interstate commerce by railroads, and the sixteenth section of which act gives to the courts of the United States power to enforce the orders of the commission. Fifth. That of October 1, 1888, c. 1063, 25 Stat. 501, providing for arbitration between railroad interstate companies and their employés: and, Sixth, the act of March 2, 1893, c. 196, 27 Stat. 531, requiring the use of automatic couplers on interstate trains, and empowering the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its provisions.”
Since this decision other laws more fully regulating interstate commerce on land have been enacted, which need not *525here be stated. They show a constantly increasing tendency to exercise more fully and vigorously the power conferred by the commerce clause. It is well to notice, however, that Congress has assumed the duty of promoting the safety of public travel by enacting the Safety Appliance Law; an act to require reports of casualties to employés or passengers (31 Stat. 1446) ; a resolution directing the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate and report on the necessity for block signals (34 Stat. 838); an act limiting the hours of service of employés, and the- act under consideration. These acts, all relating to interstate transportation, demonstrate the belief of .Congress that the safety of interstate travel is a matter of National concern, and its deliberate purpose to increase that safety by laws which it .deems 'conducive to that end. I think, therefore, that we may consider whether this act finds authority in the commerce clause of the Constitution without embarrassment from any inferences which mav be drawn from the inaction of Congress.
It is settled beyond the necessity of citing cases that the transportation of persons and property is commerce, in other words, that the business of carriers is commerce. Where, ■ therefore, the. business is foreign or interstate, Congress, it has frequently been decided, has the paramount, if not the sole, power to legislate for its direct control. An obstruction of such commerce by unlawful violence may be made punishable under the laws of the United States, suppressed by the armies of the United States, or, at the instance of the United States, enjoined in its courts. In re Debs, ubi sup. It is difficult to conceive how legislation may effectively control the business if it cannot regulate the conduct of those engaged in the business, while engaged in the business, in every act which is performed in the conduct of the business. The business of transportation is not an abstraction. It is the labor of men employed with the aid of' instrumentalities, animal and mechanical, in carrying men and things from place to place. In every form of transportation, from the simplest to the most *526complex, whether the man carries the burden on his back, or drives an animal which carries it, or a locomotive which draws a car which carries it, the one and only constant factor is the labor of mankind. I am quite unable to understand the contention made at the bar that the power of Congress is to regulate commerce among the States and not to regulate persons engaged in commerce among the States, for in the case of transportation at least the labor of those engaged in it is commerce itself. How poor and meagre the power would be if, whenever it was exercised, the legislator must pause to consider whether the action proposed regulated commerce or merely regulated the conduct of persons engaged in commerce.' The contention derives some plausibility from its vagueness. Of course the power to regulate commerce does not authorize Congress'to control the general conduct of persons engaged therein, but, unless it is an idle and useless power, it authorizes Congress to control the conduct of persons engaged in commerce in respect to everything which directly concerns commerce, for that' is commerce itself. It wóuld seem, therefore, that when persons are employed in interstate or foreign commerce, as the employment is an essential part of that commerce, its terms and conditions, and the rights and duties which grow out of it, are under the control, of Congress subject- only to the limits on the exercise of that control prescribed in the Constitution. This has been the view always expressed or implied by this court. In his concurring opinion in Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, Mr. Justice Johnson said, p. 229: “Commerce, in its simplest signification, means an exchange of goods; but'in the advancement of society, labor, transportation, intelligence, care and various mediums of exchange become commodities and enter into commerce; the subject, the vehicle, the agent, and their various operations, become the objects of commercial regulations.” In Cooley v. Board of Wardens, 12 How. 299, the court in holding, inter alia, that a regulation of pilots is a regulation of commerce within the meaning of the commerce clause *527said (p. 316, by Justice Curtis) of the power: “It extends to the persons who condu&t it, as well as. to the instruments used.” In the opinion of the court, delivered by Mr. Justice Field, in Sherlock v. Alling, 93 U. S. 99, it was said, p. 103: “It is true that the commercial power conferred by the Constitution is one without limitation. It authorizes legislation with respect to all the subjects of foreign and interstate commerce, the persons engaged in it and the instruments by which it is carried on.” In delivering the opinion of the court in Smith v. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465, where a state statute requiring interstate locomotive engineers to obtain a license after a-qualifying examination, and imposing a penalty for operating without such license, was sustained, Mr. Justice Matthews said, p. 479: “It would, indeed, be competent for Congress to legislate upon its subject matter and to prescribe the qualifications of locomotive engineers for employment by carriers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” In sustaining a similar state statute, directed against color blindness, Mr. Justice Field said in Nashville &c. Railway v. Alabama, 128 U. S. 96, 99: “It is conceded that the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce is plenary; that, as incident to it, Congress may legislate as to the qualifications, duties, and liabilities of cmployés and others on railway trains engaged in that commerce; and that such legislation will supersede any state action1 on the subject. But until such legislation is had,it is clearly within the competency of the State to provide against accidents on the train.” In Chicago &c. Railway v. Solan, 169 U. S. 133, a state statute forbidding a contract limiting liability for injury was sustained, the court, by Mr. Justice Gray, saying, p. 137: “The rules prescribed for the construction of railroads, and for their management and operation, designed to protect persons- and property, otherwise endangered by their use, are strictly within the scope of the local law. ' They are not, in themselves, regulations of interstate commerce, though they control, in some degree, the conduct and liability of those engaged in such commerce. *528So long as Congress has not legislated upon the particular subject, they are rather to be regarded as legislation in aid of such commerce,, and as a rightful exereise of the police power of the State to regulate the relative rights and duties of all persons and corporations within its limits.” This statement was assumed to be true in Pennsylvania Railroad v. Hughes, 191 U. S. 477, and Martin v. Pittsburg &c. Railroad, 203 U. S. 284. The case of Peirce v. Van Dusen, 78 Fed. Rep. 693, was decided by the Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit by Mr. Justice Harlan and Judges Taft and Lurton. The opinion was delivered by Mr. Justice Harlan. After sustaining a state statute, which modified the common law rules with respect to the liability for injuries of a carrier to its employés, he said of it: “The Ohio statute is not applicable alone to railroad corporations of Ohio, engaged in the domestic commerce of this State. It is equally applicable to railroad corporations doing business in Ohio, and engaged in commerce among the States, although the statute, in its operation, may affect in some degree a subject over which Congress can exert full power. The States may do many things affecting commerce with foreign nations and among the several States until Congress covers the subject by National legislation. . . •. Undoubtedly the whole subject of the liability of interstate railroad companies for the negligence of those in their service may be covered by National legislation enacted by Congress under its power to regulate commerce among the States.”
We may not trust implicitly to the accuracy of statements gathered from opinions where the' precise question was not for decision. But where, as in these quotations, the statements were an essential part of the course of reasoning deemed appropriate for the disposition of the cases, where the same thought clothed in different words has been expressed at intervals from early times to the present day, and where no decision or judicial utterance has been found in opposition to them, they are entitled to profound respect, and furnish cogent evidence of what the law has always been supposed to *529be by the members of this court. They cannot be regarded lightly, and if we follow them, they lead us to the conclusion that the national power to regulate commerce is broad enough to regulate the employment-, duties, obligations, liabilities and conduct of all persons .engaged in commerce with respect to all which is comprehended in that commerce. -Upon what principle except this could this court have twice enforced the Safety Appliance Act, undisturbed by a doubt of its constitutionality? Johnson v. Railroad, 196 U. S. 1; Schlemmer v. Railroad, 205 U. S. 1. That act (27 Stat. 531) compelled interstate railroads to equip all their trains with power brakes operated from the engine, and all their cars with automatic couplers, grab-irons, and hand holds, by enacting that the use of engines and cars not thus equipped should be unlawful. There was no express provision that an employé injured by the failure of a.railroad to comply with the law should be entitled to damages, but without doubt the liability of the railroad is implied. The common law -rule' governing the liability ■ was materially changed by § 8, which abolished ■ in part the doctrine of the assumption of risk, by providing that the employé.should “not be deemed to have assumed the risk” of the unlawful conditions, though he knew of them and continued'in his employment. This section was enforced in most emphatic manner .in the Schlemmer case, where Mr. Justice Holmes said, 205 U. S. 11: “An early, if not the earliest, application of the phrase 'assumption of risk’ was the establishment of the exception to the liability of a master for the negligence of his servant when the person injured was a fellow-servant of the injured man.” If the statute now before us is beyond the constitutional power of Congress, surely the Safety Appliance Act is also void, for there can be no distinction in principle between them. If Congress can create a liability to an injured employé for the existence of conditions in certain mechanisms which he uses, by declaring those conditions unlawful, it may create the same liability for negligence of the agents and imperfections in the instruments used in the car*530rier’s work; if it. may chan-gq. the. common l'aw rule: of the assumption- of the risk of imperfect appliances,, it may change the rulfe- of the- assumption of the risk of a. careless: fellow servant. I can conceive: of. n©' principle of constitutional law which enables: us, to: say that, the commerce clause authorizes, Congress to fix upon the carrier a liability for an insufficient brake, but not- for a. defective- rail,, for the absence of automatic couplers:,, but, not, for the. negligent order which brings trains info- collision,, for an insecure grab-iron, but not, for a heedless switchman. If Congress has the right to control the liability in- any way it may control it in every way, subject, as all powers are subject, to the express prohibitions of the Constitution. Unless the cases on the safety appliance acts are deemed to have been inadvertently decided, they seem to be conclusive of this branch of the case. This seems to have been feared by counsel for one of the defendants, who in his brief said “that the giving of a right of recovery to an injured employé is a proper and necessary method for making effective the Safety Appliance Act . . . we do not admit.”
But if we put aside the authority of precedents, and examine the nature and extent of the grant to Congress of power over commerce in the light of the settled principles of interpretation fit to be applied to the exposition of a constitution, we shall arrive at the same result. One main purpose and effect of the Constitution was to devise a scheme of efficient government. In order to accomplish this all the powers usual!}' exercised by governments were distributed between the States and the Nation, except those deemed unfit or unsafe to be entrusted to either and withheld from both. In the allotment of powers to the Nation' they were enumerated rather than defined. In the enumeration words of the largest import were employed, ’ comprehending within their meaning grand divisions' of the powers of government. The nature of the Constitution, said Chief Justice Marshall (McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat; 316, p. 407), “requires that only its great outlines should be marked, its important objects designated, and *531the minor ingredients which compose those objects be deduced from the nature of the objects themselves.” The wide extent of the powers granted to Congress is expressed in a few simply worded provisions, all of which might be printed on a single page of its book of aimual laws. Counsel have argued that the power to regulate commerce does not include the power to regulate the conduct of persons engaged in that •commerce iii respect of that commerce. ' This is what Mr. Justice Miller (110 U. S. 658) described as “the old argument often heard, often repeated, and in this court never assented to, that when a question of the power of Congress arises the advocate of the power must be able to place his finger on words which e-xpressly grant it.” Suppose that method of reasoning had been applied to the power “to establish post offices and post roads,” under which Congress go vertís the postal system of the country as fully and freely in every detail as it is governed by any other nation. It could be said to Congress, you cannot carry the mail, you cannot issue money orders, you cannot determine what shall be excluded from the mail, you cannot regulate the conduct of those who are employed in the mail service, you cannot exempt them from militia duty, you cannot punish their “theft or embezzlement, ■ you cannot punish him who breaks and enters the post office or mail car—all these powers are reserved to the States. You • can only establish post offices and post roads, and when that is done your power is exhausted. Yet Congress has done all these things and no one now doubts its power to do them, because the grant of power is of the whole governmental power over the subject. So, too, the power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce is the whole power which any government can exercise over that subject, it “is vested in Congress as absolutely as it would be in a single government having in its constitution the same restrictions on the exercise of the power as are found in the Constitution of the United States.” Marshall, C. J., in Gibbons v. Ogden, ubi sup., 197; The Lottery, case, 188 U. S. 321. We are brought then directly to the *532inquiry whether a power so extensive is a sufficient warrant for the enactment of the statute before us.
By what has been called the auxiliary power-Congress may “ make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution” its granted powers. It is settled that this provision authorizes the enactment of laws which, in the exercise of a wide'discretion, Congress deems adapted to secure a legitimate end and calculated to effect any of the objects entrusted to it, and the exercise of that discretion, unless it violates some prohibition of the Constitution or is used as a pretext to accomplish some object not entrusted to the National • Government, cannot be reviewéd by the judicial branch of the Government without trespassing upon a domain which is peculiarly and exclusively the province of the legislative branch. If the statute under consideration be -brought to the test of these principles there can be no doubt of its validity.
It cannot be denied that in that part’ of commerce which consists in transportation, the safety of those who are concerned in it as passengers or employes is of the first importance. As was said by Mr. Justice Gray, in Chicago &c. Railway Co. v. Solan, 169 U. S. 133, 135, “ the fundamental principle on which the law of common carriers was established was the securing of the utmost care and diligence in the performance of their public duties.” The Government having the relations which the National Government has to interstate commerce, pronounced by the court in the Debs Case, 158 U. S. 564, 578, to be “those of direct supervision, control, and management,” which neglects to do what it is fitting for a government to do to insure the safety of public travel, fails in the performance of its highest duty. The lengthening list of casualties to employés and passengers on our railroads has arrested the public attention and created public alarm. Ought Congress alone to be indifferent? Or have we so weak a system of government that the only part of it which is clothed with direct authority over the commerce in which the casualties happen is powerless? What does the “direct supervision, control, and management” amount to if *533it does not include the power to pass any laws really calculated to lessen the great dangers of public travel? Congress, recognizing its responsibility and believing in its power, has enacted the group of laws to which reference has been made. Of one (the Safety Appliance Act) the Chief Justice said, in the Johnson Case, 196 U. S. 17, what is true of all: “The primary object of the act was to promote the public welfare by securing the ' safety of employés and travellers.” That act, like this, in terms simply safeguarded the employé, but his safety cannot be separated from the safety of the traveller; both may be affected by the same act of negligence and the same defect in appliances, and suffer injury in the same disaster. Any law which promotes the safety .of either promotes the safety of both. Much of the law of common carriers, whether created by decisions of the courts or by acts of legislatures, has been upon or influenced by the theory that the nature of the liabilities imposed upon the carriers directly affects the care, diligence and safety with which they conduct their business. For instance, one consideration which has influenced the courts in the judicial development of the fellow-servant doctrine is, that, by imposing upon the employé the risk of the carelessness of the men with whom he works, a greater degree of care and therefore of safety would result. The truth of this theory has been often disputed (see Chicago &c. Railroad v. Ross, 112 U. S. 377), and it is almost universally disregarded in modern legislation. It is of no importance here whether it is right or wrong. The only significance is that the greater or less liability in damages is generally regarded as having some relation to the safety of operation. It follows that if Congress, in the exercise of its plenary power over interstate and foreign transportation, deems that the safety of that transportation would be increased by enacting that those employed in it shall have a different remedy for injuries sustained by its negligent conduct than that furnished by the laws of the States, this court cannot, without Overstepping the boundary which separates the judicial from the legislative field, declare the enactment void.
*534The power of Congress to enact the law under consideration, which seems so-clearly to result from a jus.t interpretation of the commerce clause, might not have been disputed, but for the fact that up to this time the subject has been left to be dealt with by the States. If a doubt ever existed that the States could lawfully deal with the subject under the general legislative authority to govern their territory, which was undisturbed by the Constitution, that doubt was dispelled by the decision in Sherlock v. Alling, ubi sup., 93 U. S. 99, and it is-now agreed that the State may, in the absence of action by Congress, fix and determine the liability of all carriers while operating within the State, to those whom they employ for the injuries which are suffered in the course of the employment. But such authority in the State is not inconsistent with a like authority in the Nation. Where, as in the case of our dual government, the same territories and the same individuals are subject to two governments, each supreme within its sphere, both governments by virtue of distinct powers may legislate for the same ends. The exercise of the rightful authority of the Nation and the State, though it proceeds from different governmental powers, may reach and control the same subject. This result arises from the different relations to the community the subject may sustain; a drove of cattle may be at once interstate freight and the vehicle by which infectious disease may be brought within the borders of a State; a bridge may at the same time interrupt the navigation of the river and serve as a .continuation of the highways of the State; a man, while the agent through which the transaction of interstate commerce is conducted, is at the same time one of the population, permanent or transient, of a State and subject to its general laws. There is no conflict in powers, though there may be conflict in legislation, referable to different powers. In such a case under our system the law of the State enacted by virtue of its undoubted powers must yield to the national law enacted in pursuance of the powers conferred by the Constitution. There is no necessity in this case to disturb the troublesome question *535wheiij if ever, even where Congress is silent,, the States- may exercise any direct power, over interstate and foreign commerce.. For the>-power hitherto.- exercised: by the States, over-this, particular subject has never been deemed to he; a- regulation of commerce;, but rather an exercise) of their authority to regulate, generally- the. relations; of men to- each. other;, which, may indirectly- affect-, such commerce. '“If a., State;”' said. Chief Jush tice Marshall (in Gibbons v. Ogden, ubi sup., 204), “'in passing; laws, on subjects, acknowledged to. b.e; within its; control,, and-,, with, a view to those subjects, shall: adopt-a measure, of' the same character- with one which Congress) may adopt, it does not derive its authority from the particular- powrer which has been granted, but from some other, which remains, with the State and may be executed by the same: mean®. All experience shows that the- same measure or measures;, scarcely distinguishable from, each other, may flow from distinct powers; but this does not prove that the powers themselves are identical.” That the States may by their laws fix the relative rights, duties, obligations and liabilities of all persons or corporations within their territorial jurisdictions, and thus control in that respect those who are engaged in interstate and foreign commerce; that such laws do not proceed from any power to regulate such commerce, though incidentally and indirectly they do regulate it, but are to be referred to their general power over persons and things within then territories, and that all such laws, -so far as they affect.such commence, must yield to the superior authority of the laws of Congress, is, I think, conclusively shown by the following cases: Sherlock v. Alling, 93 U. S. 99; Smith v. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465; Nashville &c. Railway Co. v. Alabama, 128 U. S. 96; Hennington v. Georgia, 163 U. S. 299; New York &c. Railroad v. New York, 165 U. S. 628; Chicago &c. Railroad Co. v. Solan, 169 U. S. 133; Pennsylvania Railroad v. Hughes, 191 U. S. 477; Martin v. Pittsburg &c. Railroad, 203 U. S. 284; Peirce v. Van Dusen, 78 Fed. Rep. 693. Upon principle and authority it, in my opinion, is clear that Congress had constitutional power over the subject with which it dealt in the statute before us.
*536There remains to be considered the objection that the specific provisions of the act exceed the legislative power over the subject. The powers of Congress are not only confined to those ■ which may be inferred from the Constitution, but are also restrained by the express limits upon their exercise which are contained in that instrument. They are delegated and enumerated and then limited. Even when Congress enters upon a ■field in which it rightfully exercises the supreme governmental power, it is not supreme in the fullest sense. It does not enjoy complete sovereignty like that, for instance, of the British Parliament. All its legislation must obey the express commands of those parts of the Constitution which mark a limit beyond which legislation cannot go. The only limit upon the authority of Congress relevant to the discussion of this branch of the case is that which forbids Congress from depriving any person of his life, liberty or property, without due process of law. Amendment' VI. It is contended that, although the law deals with a subject under the control of Congress, it deals with'it in such a manner as to violate that prohibition, and is. therefore void. Before considering the contention it is desirable to state clearly the substantial provisions of the act. The remedy afforded by it is more generous to the employé than that given by the common law in several respects. The common law recognized no recovery of damages for death resulting from negligence; by the statute damages are recoverable for death as well as for injury. The common law allowed no recovery against the employer for the neglect of a fellow-servant engaged' in a common employment; by the statute the employer is held responsible for the negligence of any of its officers, agents or employés, even though tlie guilty person is a fellow-servant of him who is injured.or killed. The common law denied to one who by his negligence had contributed to his own injury the right to a remedy for the neglect of another which had been a concurring cause; by the statute the negligent sufferer may recover if his negligence be slight, and that of the employer gross in comparison, though the contributing *537negligence must be taken into account in reduction of the damages. The commoifi law, as adjudged by this court, permitted the employé to enter into a contract renouncing his right to damages in case he incurred injuries in the course of his employment; the statute forbjds such a contract. Thus four doctrines of the common law restrictive of the employés’ rights are supplanted by others more favorable to him.
There can be no doubt of the right of a legislative body, having jurisdiction over the subject, to modify the first three of these rules of the common law in the manner in which this act of Congress does it. They are simply rules of law, unprotected by the Constitution from change, and like all other such rules must yield to the superior authority of á statute. .They have so generally been modified by statute that it may well be doubted if they exist in their integrity in any jurisdic- • tion.- The- common law rules have taken form through the decisions of courts, whose judges in announcing them were controlled by their views of what justice and sound public policy demanded. This is .nowhere more clearly stated than by Chief Justice Shaw in Farwell v. Boston & Worcester Railroad, 4 Met. 49, the leading American case establishing the doctrine that one cannot recover against the master for the negligence of a fellow-servant, where he said:- “In considering the rights and obligations arising out of particular relations, it is coinpe- ' tent for courts of justice to regard considerations of policy and general .convenience, and to draw from them such rúles as will, in their practical application, best promote the safety and security of all parties concerned.” But the economic opinions of judges and their views of the requirements of justice and public .policy, even -when crystallized into 'well-settled doctrines of law, have no constitutional sanctity* They are binding upon succeeding judges, but while they may influence they cannot control legislators. . Legislators have their own economic theories, their own views of justice and public policy, and their views when embodied in a written -law must prevail. Whenever the legislative power to change any of these rules of the *538common law has been drawn in question in this court it has been sustained. Various • state statutes ’ allowing a remedy against a railroad employer for the negligence of a fellow-servant have been held to- be within the legislative power. Missouri Pacific Railway Company v. Mackey, 127 U. S. 205; Minneapolis &c. Railway Company v. Herrick, 127 U. S. 210; Chicago, Kansas & Western Railroad Company v. Pontius, 157 U. S. 209; Tullis v. Lake Erie & Western Railroad, 175 U. S. 348. State statutes, allowing a recovery for -death, were sustained in Steamboat Company v. Chase, 16 Wall. 522, and Sherlock v. Alling, 93 U. S. 99, though the statute was .attacked in the first case only on the ground that it-intruded upon the admiralty jurisdiction exclusively vested in the .counts ¡of the United States, and in the-second case’because it-interfered -with interstate commerce, whose -regulation -was vested exclusively in Congress. Statutes of this ¡kind have been ¡in force an the States and doubtless in the Territories for -.many years,, many ¡cases have been tried under them, -aped ;in no -case has it .ever been claimed -that anything -in the Constitution removes them from -the legislative power.. The .same observation may be made, though not -so .emphatically of statutes modifying the common law rule .denying a recovery to ¡one contributing to the injury by his own neglect. It is interesting to note that this .court, acting -upon the same reasons which .doubtless influenced Congress in the -enactment -of this part of -the statute, established a rule In principle .the same, to govern the recovery in admiralty -of damages by a person injured on .a .ship (The Max Morris 137 U. S. 1, 14), holding that it promoted "the more equal distribution of justice, the dictates of humanity, the safety of life and limb and the public good.” It is enough to ,say here that the decisions of the court in the safety appliance cases, supporting a statute changing the-analogous common law doctrine of assumption of risk, are in principle conclusive that the whole subject of contributory negligence is under thé control of the legislative,power, in this respeet unrestrained by any constitutional provision. But it is earnestly urged upon us *539that the statute under consideration, applying to all interstate common carriers and all their employés in that business, without distinguishing between that part of the business and employment which is dangerous and hazardous and that part which is not, and confined solely to the business of common carriage and its employers, is a deprivation of the employer’s property without due process of law, in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. The manner in which'due process of law is said to be denied is by the denial of the equal protection of the laws by imposing unusual burdens upon a class of persons arbitrarily and capriciously selected. In support of this position cases from state courts interpreting state constitutions and. cases from this court interpreting the restriction upon state action imposed by the Fourteenth Amendment, are indiscriminately cited. They furnish little aid.
It is not necessary in this case to determine how far, if at all, the requirement from the States of the equal protection of the laws made by the Fourteenth Amendment is included in the requirement from the-Nation of due process of law made by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. It is enough to say that this statute complies with both. It is rather startling to hear that in enacting laws applicable to common carriers alone Congress has made a capricious.and arbitrary classification. From time immemorial the common law has set apart those engaged in that business as a peculiar class, to be governed in many respects by laws peculiar to themselves. In separating carriers from those engaged in other interstate and foreign commerce, Congress has but followed the ancient classification of the common law, based upon reasons so obvious that they need no statement, Whether the law should be made to apply to all carriers or to carriers by railroad alone, or whether the employés should be classified according to the degree of danger which surrounds their employment, is a matter of legislative discretion with which we have no right to meddle. See Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Mackey, ubi sup.
I have confined my observations up to this point to the first *540three changes in the common law made by the statute. The fourth change, that forbidding the employé to make a contract releasing his employer from the consequences of his negligence, is open to a possible objection not common to the others. It is asserted that this part of the act violates the right of free contract which in some cases this court has protected against the exercise of the legislative power. Without intimating any opinion on that subject, it is enough to say that that part of the statute is separable from and independent of the remainder, and may stand or fall by itself, and that no question concerning it is raised in these cases.. I see nothing in the provision that “all questions of negligence or contributory negligence shall be for the jury”, which affects the right of jury trial-guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment. Such questions always have been for the jury, and I cannot see that this enactment makes any change whatever.
I am of opinion, therefore, that the act should be sustained as a legitimate exercise.of the authority of Congress, and that orders in these cases should be made accordingly.
Mr. Justice Harlan
(with' whom concurred Mr. Justice McKenna), dissenting.
Mr. Justice McKenna and myself are of opinion that it was within the power of Congress to prescribe, as between an interstate commerce carrier, and its employés, the rule of liability established by the act of June 11, 1906. But we do not concur in the interpretation of that act as given in the opinion delivered by Mr. Justice White, but think that the act, reasonably and properly interpreted, applies, and should be interpreted as intended by Congress to apply, only to cases of interstate commerce and to employés who, at the time of the particular wrong or injury complained of, are engaged in such commerce, and not to domestic, commerce or commerce completely internal to the State in which the wrong or injury occurred. We concur in the views expressed by Mr. Justice Moody as to the *541scope and interpretation of the act. We think the act is constitutional, and, therefore, that the judgment should be reversed.