CERTIFICATES OF CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY

Authors

Ford P. Hall, Indiana University

Abstract

In most states, commissions are permitted to grant certificates to applicants if the convenience and necessity of the public require their entrance into the field. Under a few statutes, however, the public convenience and necessity is not made the basis for the issuance or refusal of a certificate, as in New Hampshire and Vermont where the commissions may issue a certificate if the public good demands it. This term should be broad, but the commissions of these states seem to have placed about the same interpretation upon it, as the courts and commissions of other states have placed upon the phrase, convenience and necessity. Because the location of a power plant would mar the scenic beauty of a spot was not considered sufficient reason for refusing a certificate to a utility on the ground that it was contrary to public good. In some of the more recent statutes pertaining to motor carriers, no statement is found of the grounds upon which the commission may refuse or grant a certificate. Such a law, however, has been held not to be a mere registration act but is designed to protect public welfare as well as convenience and necessity. There is an obvious advantage in statutes which do not set forth specifically the grounds upon which certificates shall be issued. They allow a greater latitude for the exercise of administrative discretion, as the public welfare includes much more than convenience and necessity. Certificates could be refused under such statutes because of the condition of the highways or because the buses would crowd the highways unnecessarily.

Recommended Citation

Ford P. Hall, CERTIFICATES OF CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY, 28 Mich. L. Rev. 276 (1930).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol28/iss3/4