Questions of what tolls may be charged on a highway, when more may be charged for a longer than for a shorter haul, etc., were not, at common law, subjects of judicial cognizance, and the state may, in the exercise of its police power, commit the decision of these questions to other branches of the government than the judiciary. It may create special agencies for the determination of such matters, and make their judgments final.-Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Commonwealth, 23 Ky. L. R. 1159, 64 S. W. 975.

A Maine statute empowering the railroad commissioners to require railroads to build stations at specified points, is constitutional.- Railroad Comrs. v. P. & O. C. R. Co., 63 Me. 269.

As the legislature has power itself to regulate charges by railroads, it can delegate to a commission the power of fixing such charges.State v. Ch. M. & St. P. R. Co., 38 Minn. 281, 37 N. W. 782, revd. on other grounds, 134 U. S. 418, 10 Sup. Ct. R. (U. S.) 462, 702.

Legislative powers as to railroad corporations may not be vested in a commission.-State v. Gt. Northern R. Co., 100 Minn. 445, 111 N. W. 289. A state may exercise through a commission its power to regulate railroad corporations.- Stone v. Yazoo & M. V. R. Co., 62 Miss. 607.

The legislature has power to supervise, regulate and control the rates and conduct of common carriers, and this regulation may be exercised either directly or through a commission.- Corporation Commission v. Atlantic C. L. R. Co., 139 N. C. 126, 51 S. E. 793.

The act of the North Carolina legislature creating a state railroad commission, with power to prevent excessive rates, is valid.- Atlantic Express Co. v. Wilmington & W. R. Co., 111 N. C. 463, 16 S. E. 393, 18 L. R. A. 393n.

The North Carolina legislature may confer judicial powers on a state railroad commission, under the constitutional provision authorizing it to establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court.-Atlantic Exp. Co. v. Wilmington & W. R. Co., 111 N. C. 463, 16 S. E. 393, 18 L. R. A. 393n.

The act creating the State Corporation Commission of Virginia upheld and interpreted.-Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Commonwealth, 102 Va. 599, 46 S. E. 911.

The power of the state to prescribe reasonable charges is in its nature legislative, and has always been exercised either directly by the legislature or by delegation to municipalities or other appropriate agencies.City of Madison v. Madison Gas & Elec. Co., 129 Wis. 249, 108 N. W. 65.

[15] Commissions as administrative bodies.

What powers are legislative, see post, note [18].
What powers are judicial, see post, note [19].

The Mississippi Railroad Commission is not a court but a mere administrative agency of the state.- Mississippi R. R. Commission v. Ill. Cent. R. Co., 203 U. S. 335, 27 Sup. Ct. R. (U. S.) 90.

The State Railroad Commission, created by the Texas Legislature by its act of April 3, 1891, is an administrative board, created to carry out the will of the state as expressed by its legislation.- Reagan v. Farmers' Loan & T. Co., 154 U. S. 362, 14 Sup. Ct. R. (U. S.) 1047.

The Interstate Commerce Commission is not a court but is an administrative body exercising powers which are quasi judicial.— Interst. Com. Commission v. C. N. O. & T. P. R. Co., 64 Fed. 981.

The Interstate Commerce Commission is not an "inferior court," vested with judicial functions, but is a body invested only with administrative powers of supervision and investigation.- Kentucky & I. Bridge Co. v. L. & N. R. Co., 37 Fed. 567, 2 L. R. A. 289.

The Interstate Commerce Commission is not a court, but a special tribunal whose duties though largely administrative are sometimes semi or quasi judicial.- Toledo Prod. Exch. & E. Kemble v. L. S. & M. S. R. Co., 2 Inters. Com. R. 492, 569, 3 Inters. Com. R. 830, 5 I. C. C. R. 166. Members of the Board of Health of the city of New York are administrative, not judicial officers.- People ex rel. Lodges v. Dept. of Health, 189 N. Y. 187.

The functions of a municipal civil service commission, although involving the exercise of judgment and discretion, are more of a legislative and executive character, than judicial or quasi judicial.- People ex rel. Schau v. McWilliams, 185 N. Y. 92, 77 N. E. 785.

The military board of examination is a judicial body.- People ex rel. Smith v. Hoffman, 166 N. Y. 462, 60 N. E. 187, 54 L. R. A. 597.

The Board of Railroad Commissioners of Connecticut is not a judicial tribunal. Its duties are not, except in a very limited sense, judicial. It stands in place of the legislature between corporations and the public and supervises the exercise of corporate powers, so no injustice may be done. Its duties are such as pertain to the administrative powers of the legislature itself.- State v. N. H. & N. R. Co., 43 Conn. 351, affd., 104 U. S. 1.

The railroad commissioners of Florida are statutory officers whose powers are those and only those which are conferred upon them expressly or impliedly by the statutes of the state.- State v. Atlantic C. L. R. Co., 51 Fla. 578, 40 So. 875,

The Louisiana Railroad Commission is an administrative board created by the state for carrying into effect the will of the state as expressed by its legislature.- Morgan's L. & T. R. & S. S. Co. v. R. R. Commission, 109 La. 247, 33 So. 214.

The Mississippi Railroad Commission is not a court but purely an administrative agency.- Western U. Tel. Co. v. R. R. Commission, 74 Miss. 80, 21 So. 15.

The railroad commission of North Carolina is an administrative and not a judicial body.- Caldwell v. Wilson, 121 N. C. 425, 28 S. E. 554.

[16] Division of the powers of government.

The object of a written constitution is to regulate, define and limit the powers of government by assigning to the executive, legislative and judicial branches distinct and independent powers. The safety of free government rests upon the independence of each branch and the even balance of power between the three. Unite any two of them and they will absorb the third with absolute power as a result. Weaken any one of them by making it unduly dependent on the others, and a tendency to the same evil follows. It is a fundamental principle of the organic law that each department should be free from interference in the discharge of its peculiar duties, by either of the others.- People ex rel. Burby v. Howland, 155 N. Y. 270, 49 N. E. 775.

It is a part of our state system to commit many governmental powers, involving judicial, executive and ministerial functions, to a single officer, or a board or commission, the exercise of the executive or ministerial duty being in some cases dependent upon the exercise of the judicial function. Our Constitution, unlike that of the United States, does not commit the whole judicial power to the courts in the first instance.People ex rel. Babylon R. Co. v. Board of R. R. Comrs., 32 App. Div. (N. Y.) 179, 52 N. Y. Supp. 908, affd. 158 N. Y. 711, 53 N. E. 1129.

[17] Whether legislative and judicial powers may be delegated. See also, post, note [18].

Whether power to punish for contempt can be delegated to a commission, see post, § 19, note [8].

There is no provision in the Federal Constitution which directly or impliedly prohibits a state, under its own laws, from conferring upon non-judicial bodies certain functions which may be called judicial.— Consolidated Rendering Co. v. Vermont, 207 U. S. 541, 28 Sup. Ct. R. (U. S.) 178, affg. s. c. Vt. - 66 Atl. 790.

The legislative power of Congress cannot be delegated to the president, but Congress may delegate discretion as to its execution.— Field v. Clark, 143 U. S. 649, 12 Sup. Ct. R. (U. S.) 495, affg. s. c. 45 Fed. 175.

Although Congress cannot delegate to the courts or any other tribunals powers strictly and exclusively legislative, and although the line has not been exactly drawn that separates the important subjects which must be entirely regulated by the legislature itself from those of less interest in which a general provision may be made, and powers given to those who are to act under such general provisions to fill up the details, Congress may delegate to others powers which the legislature may rightly exercise itself, and the maker of the law may commit something to the discretion of the other departments.- Wayman v. Southard, 10 Wheaton (U. S.), 1.

While it is true, if the propositions are not construed too broadly, that the legislative power cannot be delegated and that rate-making is a legislative power, both propositions are liable to such misconstruction. If by the second provision it is intended to assert that the rate-making powers is vested in the legislature, it is true. But if it is intended to go further and deny the power of the legislature to confer by general laws upon other branches of the legislature, not only the duty of executing the law but of determining its application to particular cases, and the formulation of the rules for its exercise, then it is not true.-Village of Saratoga v. Saratoga Gas, E. L. & P. Co., 191 N. Y. 123, 83 N. E. 693, revg. s. c. 122 App. Div. (N. Y.) 203, 107 N. Y. Supp. 341.

Legislative power cannot be delegated, but must be exercised solely by the legislature.- Barto v. Himrod, 8 N. Y. 483; Rice v. Foster, 4 Harr. (Del.) 479; Bradshaw v. Lankford, 73 Md. 428, 21 Atl. 66, 11 L. R. A. 582.

The legislature cannot delegate to an individual the authority to determine by the mere exercise of his judgment whether a statute ought to take effect.- Barto v. Himrod, 8 N. Y. 483.

The judicial power of the state is exclusively vested in the officers or bodies expressly designated by the Constitution, and the legislature has no power to vest in other bodies or departments of government judicial powers or to authorize such other departments or officers of the government to issue process which shall be due process of law.- People ex rel. Mac Donald v. Leubischer, 34 App. Div. (N. Y.) 577, 54 N. Y. Supp. 869, affg. s. c. 23 Misc. (N. Y.) 495, 51 N. Y. Supp. 735.

The legislature may authorize a board to make rules and regulations as acts of executive administration, but it cannot authorize it to declare what shall be a misdemeanor or impose a penalty.- Harbor Comrs. v. Redwood Co., 88 Cal. 491, 26 Pac. 375.

A legislature may create boards or commissions in the administration of the government, and invest them with such legislative powers as

shall be appropriate and necessary to effectuate the objects of their creation.- People v. Harper, 91 Ill. 357.

The legislative power to tax cannot, without the consent of the people, be delegated to any body or persons not elected by, and immediately responsible to, the people.- State v. Des Moines, 103 Iowa, 76, 72 N. W. 639, 39 L. R. A. 285.

An act of the Michigan legislature creating an appointive Board of Park Commissioners and delegating to it discretionary powers, not merely administrative, including the power to create an indebtedness, is unconstitutional.- People v. Detroit, 28 Mich. 228.

The legislature may delegate to a commission the power to determine some fact on which the statute makes its own action depend.- Elwell v. Comstock, 99 Minn. 261, 109 N. W. 698.

Delegation of legislative powers to a district court is unconstitutional. State v. Simmons, 32 Minn. 540, 21 N. W. 750.

The legislature may not delegate to a commission created by it the legislative power to determine, in its judgment and discretion, whether or not there shall be an increase of the capital stock of a corporation in any case, and to prescribe the manner in which and the terms on which the same may be made, if allowed, for that would be unconstitutional, as a delegation of legislative power to an administrative tribunal. The legislature may validly delegate to a commission the administrative duty of determining the facts on each application of a corporation to be allowed to increase its capital stock, and, if the facts bring the application within the terms, conditions and limitations, upon which existing statutes authorize an increase, allow it; otherwise, deny it.State v. Gt. Northern R. Co., 100 Minn. 445, 111 N. W. 289.

The legislature cannot delegate its law-making power, but it can make a law to delegate a power to determine some fact or state of things upon which the law makes, or intends to make it own action depend.— Locke's Appeal, 72 Pa. 494.

The universal construction of the maxims that the "legislative, executive and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct" has been that the whole power of one of these departments should not be exercised by the same hands which possess the whole power of either of the other departments, but that either department may exercise the powers of another to a limited extent. The act creating the State Corporation Commission of Virginia is not unconstitutional because it clothes that body with certain legislative, judical and executive powers.-Winchester & S. R. Co. v. Commonwealth, 106 Va. 264, 55 S. E. 692.