Erie Railway Co. v. Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of the United States
Error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The question in this case was that of the right and intention of the State of Pennsylvania to impose a tax upon the. gross receipts of the Erie Railway Company, a corporation created by the State of New York and having a portion of its road in Pennsylvania.
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Error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The question in this case was that of the right and intention of the State of Pennsylvania to impose a tax upon the. gross receipts of the Erie Railway Company, a corporation created by the State of New York and having a portion of its road in Pennsylvania. The case was thus: In May, 1868, the legislatui-e of Pennsylvania passed an act, by the seventh and eighth sections of which there was imposed a tax of three-fourths of one per cent, upon the gross receipts “of every railroad company, steamboat company, now or hereafter doing business in the…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Hunt
It is argued, in the first place, that the Erie company is not doing business in the State, in the sense intended by the act of 1868. To this argument the answer is twofold:
First. The Supreme Court of that State has held that this “company was doing business in the State in the sense of that act.” This construction of a State statute by the Supreme Court of the State, involving no question under the laws or Constitution of the United States, is conclusive upon us. We accept the construction of State statutes by the State courts, although we may doubt the correctness of such construction. We…
2Cases cited2 opinions
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3Cited by58 opinions
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- Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. BackusSupreme Court of the United States · 1894
- Adams Express Co. v. Ohio State AuditorSupreme Court of the United States · 1897
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