means as the Commission may deem proper, and thereafter said number, location, dimensions, and manner of application as designated by said Commission shall remain as the standards of equipment to be used on all cars subject to the provisions of this Act, unless changed by an order of said Interstate Commerce Commission, to be made after full hearing and for good cause shown; and failure to comply with any such requirement of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be subject to a like penalty as failure to comply with any requirement of this Act: Pro [Period of compliance may be extended.] vided, That the Interstate Commerce Commission may upon full hearing and for good cause, extend the period within which any common carrier shall comply with the provisions of this section with respect to the equipment of cars actually in service upon the [Commission may modify height of drawbars.] date of the passage of this Act. Said commission is hereby given authority, after hearing, to modify or change, and to prescribe the standard height of drawbars and to fix the time within which such modification or change shall become effective and obligatory, [Present standard height of drawbars legal.] and prior to the time so fixed it shall be unlawful to use any car or vehicle in interstate or foreign traffic which does not comply with the standard now fixed or the standard so prescribed, and after the time so fixed it shall be unlawful to use any car or vehicle in interstate or foreign traffic which does not comply with the standard so prescribed by the Commission. [Penalty for violation of provisions of this act.] SEC. 4. That any common carrier subject to this Act using, hauling, or permitting to be used or hauled on its line any car subject to the requirements of this Act not equipped as provided in this Act shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each and every such violation, to be recovered as provided in section six of the Act of March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, as amended April first, eighteen hundred and ninety-six: Provided, That where any car shall have been properly equipped, as provided in this Act and the other Acts mentioned herein, and such equipment shall have become defective [Defective cars may be hauled to nearest available re- or insecure while such car was being used by such carrier upon its line of railroad, such car may be hauled from the place where such equipment was first discovered to be defective or insecure to the nearest available point where such car can be repaired, without liability for the penalties imposed by section four of this Act or section six of the Act of March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, as amended by the Act of April first, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, if such movement is necessary to make such repairs and such repairs can not be made except at such repair point; and such movement or hauling of such car [Carriers not relieved from liability for death or injury.] shall be at the sole risk of the carrier, and nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve such carrier from liability in any remedial action for the death or injury of any railroad employee caused to such employee by reason of or in connection with the movement or hauling of such car with equipment which is defective or insecure or which is not maintained in accordance with the requirements of this Act and the other Acts herein referred to; and nothing in this proviso shall be construed to per[Hauling by chains.] mit the hauling of defective cars by means of chains instead of drawbars, in revenue trains or in association with others cars that are commercially used, unless such defective cars contain live stock or "perishable" freight. [Enforcement.] SEC. 6. That it shall be the duty of the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the provisions of this Act, and all powers heretofore granted to said Commission are hereby extended to it for the purpose of the enforcement of this Act. Public, No. 133, approved, April 14, 1910. [Employment of inspectors.] Sundry civil act (appropriations) of June 28, 1902, authorizes Commission to employ "inspectors to execute and enforce the requirements of the safety-appliance Act." THE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT. 527. The Employers' Liability Act of 1906. 528. The act of 1906 invalid as to interstate carriers. 529. The act of 1906 valid as to the District of Columbia and the territories. 530. The Employers' Liability Act of 1908. 531. The amendatory act of April 5, 1910. 532. The construction of the act of 1908. 533. The abolition of contributory negligence in connection with the Safety Appliance Act. 534. The amendment of 1910. 535. The amendment of 1910 not retroactive. 536. What is employment in interstate commerce. § 527. The Employers' Liability Act of 1906. AN ACT Relating to liability of common carriers in the District of Columbia and Territories and common carriers engaged in commerce between the states and between the states and foreign nations to their employees. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every common carrier engaged in trade or commerce in the District of Columbia, or in any Territory of the United States, or between the several States, or between any Territory and another State, or between any Territory or Territories and any State or States, or the District of Columbia, or with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia and any State or States or foreign nations, shall be liable to any of its employees, or, in the case of his death, to his personal representative for the benefit of his widow and children, if any, if none, then for his parents, if none, then for his next of kin dependent upon him, for all damages which may result from the negligence of any of its officers, agents, or employees, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency due to its negligence in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, ways or works. SEC. 2. That in all actions hereafter brought against any common carriers to recover damages for personal injuries to an employee, or where such injuries have resulted in his death, the fact that the employee may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery where his contributory negli gence was slight and that of the employer was gross in comparison, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employee. All questions of negligence and contributory negligence shall be for the jury. SEC. 3. That no contract of employment, insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity for injury or death entered into by or on behalf of any employee, nor the acceptance of any such insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity by the person entitled thereto, shall constitute any bar or defense to any action brought to recover damages for personal injuries to or death of such employee: Provided, however, That upon the trial of such action against any common carrier the defendant may set off therein any sum it has contributed toward any such insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity that may have been paid to the injured. employee, or, in case of his death, to his personal representative. SEC. 4. That no action shall be maintained under this Act, unless commenced within one year from the time the cause of action accrued. SEC. 5. That nothing in this Act shall be held to limit the duty of common carriers by railroads or impair the rights of their employees under the safety-appliance Act of March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, as amended April first, eighteen hundred an ninety-six, and March second, nineteen hundred and three. Approved June 11, 1906. § 528. The act of 1906 invalid as to interstate carriers.-In what is known as the Employers' Liability Case, Howard v. Illinois Central R. R. Co., 207 U. S. 463, 52 L. Ed. 297 (1907), the supreme court held this act of 1906 invalid as to interstate carriers, in that it went beyond the power of congress under the commerce clause, by including all the employes of said carriers and in not limiting the act to the employes engaged in said commerce. Five justices concurred in the opinion holding that this part of the act, thus held invalid, could not be separated from the provisions of the act as to interstate employes, so the entire act as to interstate carriers was held void. Four justices (Moody, Harlan, McKenna and Holmes) dissented, holding not only that the act in its main features was valid, but that the attempted regulation of intrastate employes could and should be separated from the other provisions of the act. Three of the justices concurring in the conclusion that the act was invalid did not concur in the assumption of the opinion that congress could regulate the relation of master and servant in interstate commerce. It seems therefore that six of the justices concurred in maintaining the power of congress to regulate the liability of interstate carriers to their employes engaged in interstate commerce. § 529. The act of 1906 valid as to District of Columbia and the territories.-So much of the act as related to the District of Columbia and the territories, was not based upon the power of congress to regulate commerce among the states but upon its power as a single sovereign with full legislative authority, and in El Paso & N. R. Co. v. Gutierrez, 215 U. S. 87, 54 L. Ed. 106 (1909), the court without dissent declared that the invalidity of the act as to interstate commerce as declared in the Howard Case, supra, did not invalidate such of its provisions as regulate commerce within the district of Columbia and the territories, affirming the supreme court of Texas in 117 S. W. 426. In this opinion the court approved the opinion of the court of appeals of the district of Columbia holding the act valid as to the district of Columbia in Hyde v. Southern R. R. Co., 31 App. D. C. 466. § 530. The Employers' Liability Act of 1908. AN ACT Relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories, or between any of the States and Territories, or between the District of Columbia and any of the States or Territories, or between the District of Columbia or any of the States or Territories, and any foreign nation or nations, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of such employee's parents; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment. |