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The Constitution of the United States of America

Note 357 — ARTICLE I (continued 2)

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Congress had the right to confer upon the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to regulate interstate ferry rates. (New York C. & H.R.R. Co. v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, 227 U.S. 248 (1913)); and to authorize the Commission to govern the towing of vessels between points in the same State but partly through waters of an adjoining State (Cornell Steamboat Co. v. United States, 321 U.S. 634 (1944)). Also Congress's power over navigation extends to persons furnishing wharfage, dock, warehouse, and other terminal facilities to a common carrier by water. Hence an order of the United States Maritime Commission banning certain allegedly "unreasonable practices" by terminals in the Port of San Francisco, and prescribing schedules of maximum free time periods and of minimum charges was constitutional. (California v. United States, 320 U.S. 577 (1944)). The same power also comprises regulation of the registry, enrollment, license, and nationality of ships and vessels; the method of recording bills of sale and mortgages thereon; the rights and duties of seamen; the limitations of the responsibility of shipowners for the negligence and misconduct of their captains and crews; and many other things of a character truly maritime. See Rodd v. Heartt (The "Lottawanna"), 21 Wall. 558, 577 (1875); Providence & N.Y.S.S. Co. v. Hill Mfg. Co., 109 U.S. 578, 589 (1883); Old Dominion S.S. Co. v. Gilmore, 207 U.S. 398 (1907); O'Donnell v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 318 U.S. 36 (1943). See also below article III, § 2, (Admiralty and Maritime clause).

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