Statement of Facts.

MORGAN'S STEAMSHIP COMPANY v. LOUISIANA BOARD OF HEALTH & Another.

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA.

Argued April 26, 27, 1886.-Decided May 10, 1886.

The system of quarantine laws established by statutes of Louisiana is a rightful exercise of the police power for the protection of health, which is not forbidden by the Constitution of the United States.

While some of the rules of that system may amount to regulations of commerce with foreign nations or among the States, though not so designed, they belong to that class which the States may establish until Congress acts in the matter by covering the same ground or forbidding State laws. Congress, so far from doing either of these things, has, by the act of 1799 (ch.

53, Rev. Stat.) and previous laws, and by the recent act of 1878, 20, Stat., 37, adopted the laws of the States on that subject, and forbidden all interference with their enforcement.

The requirement that each vessel passing a quarantine station shall pay a fee fixed by the statute, for examination as to her sanitary condition, and the ports from which she came, is a part of all quarantine systems, and is a compensation for services rendered to the vessel, and is not a tax within the meaning of the Constitution concerning tonnage tax imposed by the States.

Nor is it liable to constitutional objection as giving a preference for a port of one State over those of another. That section (nine) of the first article of the Constitution is a restraint upon powers of the General Government and not of the States, and can have no application to the quarantine laws of Louisiana.

This was a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana.

The plaintiff in error was plaintiff in the State court, and in the court of original jurisdiction obtained an injunction against the Board of Health prohibiting it from collecting from the plaintiffs the fee of $30 and other fees allowed by Act 69 of the Legislature of Louisiana of 1882, for the examination which the quarantine laws of the State required in regard to all vessels passing the station. This decree was reversed, on appeal, by the Supreme Court of the State, and to this judgment of reversal the present writ of error was prosecuted.

Statement of Facts.

The grounds on which it was sought, in this court, to review the final judgment of the Louisiana court were thus stated in an amended petition filed in the cause in the court of first instance:

"The amended petition of plaintiffs respectfully represents: "That all the statutes of the State of Louisiana, relied on by defendants for collection of quarantine and fumigation fees are null and void, because they violate the following provisions of the United States Constitution:

"Article first, section 10, paragraph 3, prohibits the States from imposing tonnage duties without the consent of Congress. "Article first, section 8, paragraph 3, vesting in Congress. the power to regulate commerce, which power is exclusively so vested.

"Article first, paragraph 6, section 9, which declares that no preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce to the ports of one State over that of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another."

The statute which authorizes the collection of these fees, approved July 1, 1882, is as follows:

"SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That the resident physician of the Quarantine Station on the Mississippi River shall require for every inspection and granting certificate the following fees and charges: For every ship, thirty dollars ($30); for every bark, twenty dollars ($20); for every brig, ten dollars ($10); for every schooner, seven dollars and a half ($7.50); for every steamboat (towboats excepted), five dollars ($5); for every steamship, thirty dollars ($30).

"SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, &c., That the Board of Health shall have an especial lien and privilege on the vessels so inspected for the amount of said fees and charges, and may collect the same, if unpaid, by suit before any court of competent jurisdiction, and in aid thereof shall be entitled to the writ of provisional seizure on said vessels.

"SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, &c., That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act, are hereby

Argument for Plaintiff in Error.

repealed, and all laws and parts of laws on the same subjectmatter not in conflict or inconsistent herewith, are continued in full force and effect."

Mr. H. J. Leovy and Mr. Joseph E. McDonald for plaintiff in error.

We contend that all the provisions of the act of 1882, of 1870, and of the other acts, to which reference has been made, that impose charges on vessels to defray the expenses of a quarantine system, and to support a Board of Health, are null and void, for the following reasons:

First. Because they impose tonnage dues and conflict with the third paragraph, tenth section, of the first Article of the United States Constitution, which declares that "no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage." Steamship Co. v. Portwardens, 6 Wall. 31; Peete v. Morgan, 19 Wall. 581; State Tonnage Tax Cases, 12 Wall. 204; Cannon v. New Orleans, 20 Wall. 580; Henderson v. Mayor of New York, 92 U. S. 259; Inman Steamship Co. v. Tinker, 94 U. S. 238; Packet Co. v. Keokuk, 95 U. S. 80; Packet Co. v. St. Louis, 100 U. S. 423; Railroad Co. v. Ellerman, 105 U. S. 166.

Second. Because, so far as they impose charges or duties on vessels engaged in the coast trade, or plying between ports of Louisiana and other States or countries, they are regulations of commerce and violate the third paragraph of the eighth section, first article of the United States Constitution, which vests in Congress the exclusive power to regulate commerce. 2 Curtis Hist. Const. 370; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 205; State Freight Tax, 15 Wall. 232; Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419; Passenger Cases, 7 How. 283, 414; Vicksburg v. Tobin, 100 U. S. 430; Packet Co. v. Catlettsburg, 105 U. S. 559; Transportation Co. v. Parkersburg, 107 U. S. 691; Cooley v. Port Wardens of Philadelphia, 12 How. 299; Steamship Co. v. Joliffe, 2 Wall. 450; Railroad Co. v. Husen, 95 U. S. 465; Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 197; Moran v. New Orleans, 112 U. S. 69; and cases cited under Point 1.

Third. Because, by imposing charges exclusively on vessels

Opinion of the Court.

passing the Mississippi River Quarantine Station, preference is given to vessels from the ports of one State over those of another, and duties are imposed on vessels bound from one State to another, in contravention of paragraph six, section nine, of the first Article of the United States Constitution. Inman Steamship Co. v. Tinker, above cited; Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U. S. 434.

Fourth. And we allege that said statutes are null and void, because they conflict with the provision of the act of Congress of 1799, 1 Stat. 16, relating to quarantine, which provides "that nothing herein shall enable any State to collect a duty of tonnage or impost without the consent of the Congress of the United States." Railroad Co. v. Husen, above cited; State Freight Tax, above cited; Ward v. Maryland, 12 Wall. 418; Welton v. Missouri, 91 U. S. 275; Henderson v. Mayor of New York, above cited; Chy Lung v. Freeman, 92 U. S. 275; Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, above cited; Steamship Co. v. Portwardens, above cited.

Mr. F. C. Zacharie and Mr. William M. Evarts for defendants in error.

MR. JUSTICE MILLER, after stating the case as above reported, delivered the opinion of the court.

The services for which these fees are to be collected are parts of a system of quarantine provided by the laws of Louisiana, for the protection of the State, and especially of New Orleans, an important commercial city, from infectious and contagious diseases which might be brought there by vessels coming through the Gulf of Mexico from all parts of the world, and up the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

This system of quarantine differs in no essential respect from similar systems in operation in all important seaports all over the world, where commerce and civilization prevail. The distance from the mouth of the Mississippi River to New Orleans is about a hundred miles. A statute of Louisiana of 1855, organizing this system, created a Board of Health, to whom its administration was mainly confided, and it authorized this

Opinion of the Court.

board to select and establish a quarantine station on the Mississippi, not less than seventy-five miles below New Orleans. Money was appropriated to buy land, build hospitals, and furnish other necessary appliances for such an establishment. This and other statutes subsequently passed contained regulations for the examination of vessels ascending the river, and of their passengers, for the purpose of ascertaining the places whence these vessels came, their sanitary condition, and the healthy or diseased condition of their passengers. If any of these were such that the safety of the city of New Orleans or its inhabitants required it as a protection against disease, they could be ordered into quarantine by the proper health officer until the danger was removed, and, if necessary, the vessel might be ordered to undergo fumigation. If, on this examination, there was no danger to be apprehended from vessel or passengers, a certificate of that fact was given by the examining officer, and she was thereby authorized to proceed and land at her destination. If ordered to quarantine, after such detention and cleansing process as the quarantine authorities required, she was given a similar certificate and proceeded on her way. If the condition of any of the passengers was such that they could not be permitted to enter the city, they might be ordered into quarantine while the vessel proceeded without them. Whether these precautions were judicious or not this court cannot inquire. They are a part of and inherent in every system of quarantine.

States which has need of
Although situated over a

If there is a city in the United quarantine laws it is New Orleans. hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico, it is the largest city which partakes of its commerce, and more vessels of every character come to and depart from it than any city connected with that commerce. Partaking, as it does, of the liability to diseases of warm climates, and in the same danger as all other seaports of cholera and other contagious and infectious disorders, these are sources of anxiety to its inhabitants, and to all the interior population of the country who may be affected by their spread among them. Whatever may be the truth with regard to the contagious character of yellow fever and