CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--COMMERCE CLAUSE--FOREIGN COMMERCE--VALIDITY OF STATE STATUTE PROHIBITING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION BY CARRIER

Authors

Bruce L. Moore S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Appellant owns and operates two steamships for transportation of its patrons between Detroit and Bois Blanc Island, part of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The island is owned by appellant and operated as an amusement and recreation center for the people of Detroit. For refusal to transport a negro girl, appellant was prosecuted and convicted under the Michigan Civil Rights Act which provides that "All persons within the jurisdiction of this state shall be entitled to full and equal accommodations . . . facilities and privileges . . . of public conveyances on land and water . . . ," and that it shall be unlawful to withhold any such accommodation on account of race, creed or color. The Michigan Supreme Court upheld the conviction. On appeal, appellant contended that the Michigan statute as applied to foreign commerce violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. Held, affirmed. Foreign commerce of such peculiarly local concern may be regulated by a state, and the statute does not impose an undue burden on foreign commerce. Bob-Lo Excursion Co. v. Michigan, (U.S. 1948) 68 S.Ct. 358

Recommended Citation

Bruce L. Moore S.Ed., CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--COMMERCE CLAUSE--FOREIGN COMMERCE--VALIDITY OF STATE STATUTE PROHIBITING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION BY CARRIER, 46 Mich. L. Rev. 826 (1948).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol46/iss6/9