Court Opinion

ID: 9418519
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:29:19.925166+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:04.758874
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice McReynolds
delivered the opinion of the Court.
These causes turn upon the same point, were heard together and it will be convenient to decide them by one opinion.
The immediate question presented by number three hundred sixty-six is whether one engaged in the business of stevedoring, whose employees work only on board ships in the navigable waters of Puget Sound, can be compelled to contribute to the accident fund provided for by the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Washington. The State maintains that the objections to such requirement pointed out in Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, 253 U. S. 149, were removed by the Act of June 10, 1922, c. 216, 42 Stat. 634.1 Its Supreme Court ruled otherwise. 122 Wash. 572, 582.
*222In number six hundred eighty-four the Supreme Court of California approved the cpnclusion of the Supreme Court of Washington and declared the Act of June 10, 1922, went beyond the power of Congress. It accordingly held the Industrial Accident Commission had no jurisdiction to award compensation for the death of a workman killed while actually engaged at maritime work, under maritime contract, upon a vessel moored at her dock in San Francisco Bay and discharging her cargo. 220 Pac. 669.
The judgments below must be affirmed; the doctrine of Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, to which we adhere, permits no other conclusion. There we construed the Act of October 6, 1917, c. 97, 40 Stat. 396,2 which undertook *223to amend the provision of §§ 24 and 256, Judicial Code, which saves to suitors in all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction “ the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to give it,” by adding the words “and to claimants the rights and remedies under the workmen’s compensation law of any State.” After declaring the true meaning and purpose of the act, we held it beyond the power of Congress.
Except as to the master and members of the crew, the Act of 1922 must be read as undertaking to permit application of the workmen’s compensation laws of the several States to injuries within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction substantially as provided by the Act of 1917. The exception of master and crew is wholly insufficient to meet the objections to such enactments heretofore often pointed out. Manifestly, the proviso which denies jurisdiction to district courts of the United States over causes arising out of the injuries specified was intended to supplement the provision covering rights and remedies under state compensation laws. As that provision is ineffective, so is the proviso. To hold otherwise would bring about an unfortunate condition wholly outside the legislative intent.
Counsel insist that later conclusions of this Court have modified the doctrine of Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U. S. 205, and Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart. They rely especially upon Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia, 257 U. S. 233, Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. Rohde, 257 U. S. 469, and Industrial Commission v. Nordenholt Co., 259 U. S. 263.
Southern Pacific v. Jensen involved a claim under the New York Compensation Act for death resulting from injuries sustained while the deceased was on board and engaged in unloading the vessel. We held (pp. 216, 217)— “ It would be difficult, if not impossible, to define with exactness just how far the general maritime law may be changed, modified, or affected by state legislation. That *224this may be done to some extent cannot be denied. . . . Equally well established is the rale that state statutes may not contravene an applicable act of Congress or affect the general maritime law beyond certain limits. . . . And plainly, we think; no such legislation is valid if it contravenes the essential purpose expressed by an act of Congress or works material prejudice to the characteristic features of the general maritime law or interferes with the proper harmony and uniformity of that law in its international and interstate relations. This limitation, at the least, is essential to the effective operation of the fundamental purposes for which such law was incorporated into our national laws by the Constitution itself. . . . The work of a stevedore in which the deceased was engaging is maritime in nature; his employment was a maritime contract; the injuries which he received were likewise maritime; and the rights and'liabilities of the parties in connection therewith were matters clearly within the admiralty jurisdiction. Atlantic Transport Co. v. Imbrovek, 234 U. S. 52, 59, 60. If New York can subject foreign ships coming into her ports to such obligations as those imposed by her Compensation Statute, other States may do likewise. The necessary consequence would be destruction of thé very uniformity in respect to maritime matters which the Constitution was designed to establish; and freedom of navigation between the States and with foreign countries would be seriously hampered and impeded. A far'more serious injury would result to commerce than could have been inflicted by the Washington statute authorizing a materialman’s lien condemned in The Roanoke. [189 U. S. 185.] The legislature exceeded its authority in attempting to extend the statute under consideration to conditions like those here disclosed.”
In Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart (pp. 163, 164, 166), where claim was made under the New York Act on account of the death of a bargeman who fell into the'Hudson River and drowned, this was said—
*225“We conclude that [by the Act of October 6, 1917] Congress undertook to permit application of Workmen’s Compensation Laws of the several States to injuries within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and to save such statutes from the objections pointed out by Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen. If sought to authorize and sanction action by the States in prescribing and enforcing, as to all parties concerned, rights, obligations, liabilities and remedies designed to provide compensation for injuries suffered by employees engaged in maritime work.
“And so construed, we think the enactment is beyond the power of Congress. Its power to legislate concerning rights and liabilities within the maritime jurisdiction and remedies for their enforcement, arises from the Constitution, as above indicated. The definite object of the grant was to commit direct control to the Federal Government; to relieve maritime commerce from unnecessary burdens and disadvantages incident to discordant legislation; and to establish, so far as practicable, harmonious and uniform rules applicable throughout every part of the Union.
“ Considering the fundamental purpose in view and the definite end for which such rules were accepted, we must conclude that in their characteristic features and essential international and interstate relations, - the latter may not be repealed, amended or changed except by legislation which embodies both the will and deliberate judgment of Congress. The subject was intrusted to it to be dealt with according to its discretion — not for delegation to others. To say that because Congress could have enacted a compensation act applicable to maritime injuries, it could authorize the States to do so as they might desire, is false reasoning. Moreover, such an authorization would inevitably destroy the harmony and uniformity which the Constitution not only contemplated but actually established — it would defeat the very purpose of the grant. See Sudden & Christenson v. Industrial Accident Commission, 188 Pac. Rep. 803.
*226“ Congress cannot transfer its legislative power to the States — by nature this is non-delegable. . . .
“Here, we are concerned with a wholly different constitutional provision — one which, for the purpose of securing harmony and uniformity, prescribes a set of rules, empowers Congress to legislate to that end, and prohibits material interference by the States. Obviously, if every State may freely declare the rights and liabilities incident to maritime employment, there will at once arise the confusion and uncertainty which framers of the Constitution both foresaw and undertook to prevent.”
In Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia, a proceeding begun in admiralty to recover damages for death of a stevedore fatally injured while working in the hold of a vessel then anchored and discharging her cargo, we held (p. 242)— “As the logical result of prior decisions we think it follows that, where death upon such waters- results from a maritime tort committed on navigable waters within a State whose statutes give a right of action on account of death by wrongful act, the admiralty courts will entertain a libel in personam for the damages sustained by those to whom such right is given. The subject is maritime and local in character and the specified modification of or supplement to the rule applied in admiralty courts, when following the common law, will not work material prejudice to the characteristic features of the general maritime law, nor interfere with the proper harmony and uniformity of that law in its international and interstate relations.”
Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. Rohde was a proceeding in admiralty to recover damages from the ship-builder for injuries which the carpenter received while working on an unfinished vessel moored in the Willamette River at Portland, Oregon. “The contract for constructing ‘The Ahala’ was nonmaritime, and although the incompleted structure upon which the accident occurred was lying in *227navigable waters, neither Rohde’s general employment, nor his activities at the time had any direct relation to navigation or commerce.” We held the matter was only of local concern and that to permit the rights and liabilities of the parties to be determined by the local law would not interfere with characteristic features of the general maritime rules. We also pointed out the conclusion was in entire accord with prior eases.
Industrial Commission v. Nordenholt Co. related to a claim based upon death which resulted from injuries received by the longshoreman while on the dock — a matter never within the admiralty jurisdiction. “Insana was injured upon the dock, an extension of the land, Cleveland Terminal & Valley R. R. Co. v. Cleveland S. S. Co., 208 U. S. 316, and certainly prior to the Workmen’s Compensation Act the employer’s liability for damages would have depended upon the common ■ law and the state statutes. Consequently, when the Compensation Act superseded other state laws touching the liability in question, it did not come into conflict with any superior maritime law. And this is true whether awards under the act are made as upon implied- agreements or otherwise. The stevedore’s contract of employment did not contemplate any dominant federal rule concerning the master’s liability for personal injuries received on land.”
None of the later causes departs from the doctrine of Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen and Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, and, we think, the provisions of the Act of 1922 cannot be reconciled therewith.
Without doubt Congress has power to alter, amend or revise the maritime law by statutes of general application embodying its will and judgment. This power, we think, would permit enactment of a general employers’ liability law or general provisions for compensating injured employees; but it may not be delegated to the several States. The grant of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction looks to *228uniformity; otherwise wide discretion is left to Congress. Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart. Exercising another power — to regulate commerce — Congress has prescribed the liability of interstate carriers by railroad for damages to employees (Act April 22, 1908, c. 149, 35 Stat. 65) and thereby abrogated conflicting local rules. New York Central R. R. Co. v. Winfield, 244 U. S. 147.
This cause presents a situation where there was no attempt to prescribe general rules. On the contrary, the manifest purpose was to permit any State to alter the maritime law 'and thereby introduce conflicting requirements., To prevent this result the Constitution adopted the law of the sea.as the measure of maritime rights and obligations. The confusion and difficulty, if vessels were compelled to comply with the local statutes at every port, are not difficult to see. Of course, some within the States may prefer local rules; but the Union was formed with the very definite design of freeing maritime commerce from intolerable restrictions incident to such control. The subject is national. Local interests must yield to the common welfare. The Constitution is supreme.

Affirmed.

Mr. Justice Holmes.
The reasoning of Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U. S. 205, and cases following it never has satisfied me and therefore I should have been glad to see a limit set to the principle. But I must leave it to those who think the principle right to say how far it extends.

 That clause 3 of section 24 of the Judicial Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
“ Third. Of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to give it, and to claimants for compensation for injuries to or death of persons other than the master or members of the crew of a vessel their rights and remedies under the workmen’s compensation law of any State, District, Territory, or possession of the United States, which rights and remedies when conferred by such law shall be exclusive; of all. seizures on land or waters not within admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; of all prizes brought into the United States; and of all proceedings for the condemnation of property taken as prize: Provided, That the jurisdiction of the district courts shall not extend to causes arising out of injuries to or death of persons other than the master or members of the crew, for *222which compensation is provided by the workmen’s compensation law of any State, District, Territory, or possession of the United States.”
Sec. 2. That clause 3 of section 256 of the Judicial Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
“ Third. Of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to give it and to claimants for compensation for injuries to or death of persons other than the master or members of the crew of a vessel, their rights and remedies under the workmen’s compensation law of any State, District, Territory, or possession of the United States.”

 That clause three of section twenty-four of the Judicial Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
“ Third. Of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common-law is competent to give it, and to claimants the rights and remedies under the workmen’s compensation law of any State; of all seizures on land or waters not within admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; of all prizes brought into the United States; and of all proceedings for the condemnation of property taken as prize.”
Sec. 2. That clause three of section two hundred and fifty-six of the Judicial Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
“ Third. Of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to give it, and to claimants the rights and remedies under the workmen’s compensation law of any State.”