STATE UTILITIES AND THE SUPREME COURT, 1922-1930

Authors

Thomas Reed Powell, Harvard University

Abstract

This is a review of Supreme Court decisions for the past eight years on the subject of the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to state regulation of property and business "devoted to a public use'' or "affected with a public interest,'' if one may be allowed to endorse without recourse these amorphous phrases issued by the court. The field covered is broader than that of strict public utilities which may be subjected to the duty to serve all. It includes all efforts on the part of the states to subject particular enterprises to price regulation. Rates of interest and charges for insurance may be regulated, but this does not mean that banks and insurers may be compelled to contract. Most of the cases deal with the power to fix prices and with restrictions on the exercise of this power. Some are concerned with special duties and obligations that may be imposed on those enterprises that come within the class of public callings. In the footnotes are given references to law-review articles and editorial notes from 1922 to 1930 which discuss the cases reported in the text or with cases presenting other problems of a similar character.

Recommended Citation

Thomas R. Powell, STATE UTILITIES AND THE SUPREME COURT, 1922-1930, 29 Mich. L. Rev. 811 (1931).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol29/iss7/2