INTERSTATE COMMERCE - MOTOR CARRIER ACT OF 1935 - POWER OF STATES TO REGULATE INTERSTATE CARRIERS AS TO SIZES AND WEIGHT

Authors

Spencer E. lrons, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

The Motor Carrier Act of 1935 provides, in section 204 (a) (1) and (2), that the Interstate Commerce Commission, in performing its duty of regulating interstate motor carriers, shall have power to "establish reasonable requirements with respect to . . . safety of operation and equipment." In section 225, the act authorizes the commission "to investigate and report on the need for Federal regulation of the sizes and weight of motor vehicles. . . ." These two sections, when read together, indicate that Congress felt that sizes and weight regulations deserved consideration apart from general safety regulations. The former are closely related to the preservation of the highways over which the regulated vehicles travel, and since each state has its own individual problems of highway construction and maintenance, questions have arisen as to the proper scope of a state's power to control the stress which is to be placed upon its roads. The purpose of this comment is to determine first, the meaning of section 225 as a limitation on the Interstate Commerce Commission's jurisdiction, and, secondly, the permissible area of state legislation in prescribing weight and size limitations.

Recommended Citation

Spencer E. lrons, INTERSTATE COMMERCE - MOTOR CARRIER ACT OF 1935 - POWER OF STATES TO REGULATE INTERSTATE CARRIERS AS TO SIZES AND WEIGHT, 39 Mich. L. Rev. 631 (1941).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol39/iss4/9