Peete v. Morgan
Supreme Court of the United States
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The Constitution ordains as follows: “No State shall without the consent of Congress lay any duty on tonnage. “ Congress shall have power to regulate commerce between the States.”
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Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The Constitution ordains as follows: “No State shall without the consent of Congress lay any duty on tonnage. “ Congress shall have power to regulate commerce between the States.” With these provisions of the Constitution in force, the legislature of Texas, by an act of August 13th, 1870, enacted that every vessel arriving at the quarantine station of any town on the coast of Texas, should pay $5 for the first hundred tons, and one and a half cents for each additional ton. In this state of things Morgan, a citizen of New York—…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Davis
That the power to establish quarantine laws rests with the States, and has not been surrendered to the General government is settled in Gibbons v. Ogden. The source of this power is in the acknowledged right of a State to provide for the health of its'people, and although this power when set in motion may in a greater or less degree affect commerce, yet the laws passed in the exercise of this power are not enacted for such an object. They are enacted for the sole purpose of preserving the public health, and if they injuriously affect commerce, Congress, under the power to regulate it, may…
2Cited by21 opinions
- Morgan's Steamship Co. v. Louisiana Board of HealthSupreme Court of the United States · 1886
- Clyde Mallory Lines v. Alabama Ex Rel. State Docks CommissionSupreme Court of the United States · 1935
- Illinois Central Railroad v. IllinoisSupreme Court of the United States · 1896
- Scandinavian Airlines System, Inc. v. County of Los AngelesCalifornia Supreme Court · 1961
- Ross v. Mayor, C., EdgewaterSupreme Court of New Jersey · 1935
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