CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - CARRIERS - SUPERSEDURE OF STATE REGULATIONS BY FEDERAL REGULATIONS - REGULATION OF HOURS OF SERVICE OF MOTOR VEHICULAR DRIVERS - EFFECT OF FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER ACT OF 1935

Authors

Fred C. Newman, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Defendant, whose business was chiefly interstate, violated a statute of New Hampshire which regulated the hours of service of drivers of certain motor vehicles. The violation occurred after the passage of the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1935, which, among other things, conferred authority upon the Interstate Commerce Commission "to establish reasonable requirements with respect to . . . maximum hours of service of employees" of common and contract carriers by motor vehicle in interstate commerce. At the time of the breach of the state statute, the Interstate Commerce Commission had not prescribed regulations as to hours of service. Defendant contended that the Federal Motor Carrier Act superseded the provisions of the state statute, which regulated hours of service, and that for that reason he was not liable under the state statute. Held, the Federal Motor Carrier Act had not superseded the state statute at the date the breach occurred, and therefore defendant was liable for breach of the state statute. H.P. Welch Co. v. New Hampshire, 306 U.S. 79, 59 S. Ct. 438 (1939).

Recommended Citation

Fred C. Newman, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - CARRIERS - SUPERSEDURE OF STATE REGULATIONS BY FEDERAL REGULATIONS - REGULATION OF HOURS OF SERVICE OF MOTOR VEHICULAR DRIVERS - EFFECT OF FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER ACT OF 1935, 38 Mich. L. Rev. 92 (1939).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol38/iss1/13