SECTION 10. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF

Penalties for SEC. 10.

violations of Act

by carriers, or 18, 1910.)

when the car.

ration, its offi

ment.

THE ACT.

(As amended March 2, 1889, and June That any common carrier subject to

rier is a corpo- the provisions of this Act, or, whenever such comcers, agents, or mon carrier is a corporation, any director or officer employees: Fine and imprison thereof, or any receiver, trustee, lessee, agent, or person acting for or employed by such corporation, who, alone or with any other corporation, company, person, or party, shall willfully do or cause to be done, or shall willingly suffer or permit to be done, any act, matter, or thing in this Act prohibited or declared to be unlawful, or who shall aid or abet therein, or shall willfully omit or fail to do any act, matter, or thing in this Act required to be done, or shall cause or willingly suffer or permit any act, matter, or thing so directed or required by this Act to be done not to be so done, or shall aid or abet any such omission or failure, or shall be guilty of any infraction of this Act for which no penalty is otherwise provided, or, who shall aid or abet therein, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof in any district court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which such offense was committed, be subject to a fine of not to exceed five thousand dollars for each offense: Provided, That if the offense for which any person shall be convicted as aforesaid shall be an unlawful discrimination in rates, fares, or charges for the transportation of passengers or property, such person shall, in addition to the fine hereinbefore provided for, be liable to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not exceeding two years, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Penalties for false billing, etc., by carriers, their officers or

Fine

agents:
and imprison-

Any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act, or, whenever such common carrier is a corporation, any officer or agent thereof, or any person acting for or employed by such corporation, ment. who, by means of false billing, false classification, false weighing, or false report of weight, or by any other device or means, shall knowingly and willfully assist, or shall willingly suffer or permit, any person or persons to obtain transportation for property at less than the regular rates then established and in force on the line of transportation of such common carrier, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction within the district in which such offense was committed, be subject to a fine of not exceeding. five thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court, for each offense.

Any person, corporation, or company, or any agent, or officer thereof, who shall deliver property for transportation to any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act, or for whom, as consignor or consignee, any such carrier shall transport property, who shall knowingly and willfully, directly or indirectly, himself or by employee, agent, officer, or otherwise, by false billing, false classification, false weighing, false representation of the contents of the package or the substance of the property, false report of weight, false statement, or by any other device or means, whether with or without the consent or connivance of the carrier, its agent, or officer, obtain or attempt to obtain transportation for such property at less than the regular rates then established and in force on the line of transportation; or who shall knowingly and willfully, directly or indirectly, himself or by employee, agent, officer, or otherwise, by false statement or representation as to cost, value, nature, or extent of injury, or by the use of any false bill,

Penalties for false billing, etc., by shippers

and other per

sons: Fine and

imprisonment.

bill of lading, receipt, voucher, roll, account, claim, certificate, affidavit, or deposition, knowing the same to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent, or to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, obtain or attempt to obtain any allowance, refund, or payment for damage or otherwise in connection with or growing out of the transportation of or agreement to transport such property, whether with or without the consent or connivance of the carrier, whereby the compensation of such carrier for such transportation, either before or after payment, shall in fact be made less than the regular rates then established and in force on the line of transportation, shall be deemed guilty of fraud, which is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction within the district in which such offense was wholly or in part committed, be subject for each offense to a fine of not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court; Provided, That the penalty of imprisonment shall not apply to artificial persons. If any such person, or any officer or agent of any mon carriers to such corporation or company, shall, by payment of justly: Fine money or other thing of value, solicitation, or otherand imprisonment. Joint lia wise, induce or attempt to induce any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act, or any of its officers or agents, to discriminate unjustly in his, its, or their favor as against any other consignor or consignee in the transportation of property, or shall aid or abet any common carrier in any such unjust discrimination, such person or such officer or agent of such corporation or company shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction thereof in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction within the district in which such offense was committed, be subject to a fine of not exceeding five thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of

Penalties for inducing com

discriminate un

bility with car

rier for dam

ages.

not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court, for each offense; and such person, corporation, or company shall also, together with said common carrier, be liable, jointly or severally, in an action to be brought by any consignor or consignee discriminated against in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction for all damages caused by or resulting therefrom.

History of the Section.-As originally enacted this section consisted only of the general penalty clause comprising the first paragraph. The amendment of March 2, 1889, added the balance of the section including the specific penalties for false billing, classification, weighing, reporting, etc., and the amendment of June 18, 1910, specifically included corporations in the section. Until the enactment of the Elkins Law, February 19, 1903, section 10 contained all the provisions fixing criminal responsibility for violations of the various provisions of the Act to Regulate Commerce. The Act was vitally amended by the Elkins Act which has become of supreme importance in the enforcement of the law in view of the numerous prosecutions for rebating which were comprehended in that legislation. By the Elkins Act, as originally enacted, the penalty of imprisonment was abolished and the penalty fixed by that law was the imposition of fines ranging from one thousand dollars to twenty thousand dollars. The amendment of June 29, 1906 to the Elkins Act restored the penalty of imprisonment. It follows that the provisions of the Elkins law in effect superseded section 10 in importance and reference is made to the discussion of its provisions, post page 505, et seq.

Construction of the Section.-By the amendment to section I of June 29, 1906 express companies are included in the term "common carrier" and the liability of common carriers under section 10 involves also express companies which may violate the provisions of the Act.1

I United States v. Adams Express Co., 229 U. S. 381, 57 L. Ed. 1237, 33 Sup. Ct. 878, where the express company was indicted for demanding and receiving sums in excess of its schedule rates. The court said:-"By section 10, (amended by Act of June 18, 1910), any common carrier subject to the provisions of the Act, wilfully doing this is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine. *** By section 1 of the original Act of 1887, as amended June 29, 1906, "The term 'common carrier' as used in

In an action to recover for the loss of a shipment the Supreme Court has held that in case of a misrepresentation of its value by the shipper in order to secure a lower tariff rate, the consequence is not that the shipper shall recover nothing but that he shall recover no more than the value disclosed or alleged to obtain the rate.2

this Act shall include express companies and sleeping car companies.' And thus the liability of common carriers created by section 10 stands as if it read that express companies violating section 6 should be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to fine. *** It is true that a doubt was raised by the wording of section 10 in the original Act, whether corporations were indictable under it. This doubt was met by the Act of February 19, 1903, (the Elkins Act). We do not perceive that any inference can be drawn from this source in favor of a construction of the later amendment other than that that we deem the natural one. The power of Congress hardly is denied. The constitutionality of the statute as against corporations is established, New York Central and Hudson River R. R. Co. v. United States, 212 U. S. 481, 492, 53 L. Ed. 613, 29 Sup. Ct. 304, and no reason is suggested why Congress has not equal power to charge the partnership assets with a liability and to personify the company so far as to collect a fine by a proceeding against it by the company name."

2 Wells, Fargo and Co. v. Neiman-Marcus Co., 227 U. S. 469, 57 L. Ed. 600, 33 Sup. Ct. 267, where the court said: "It is undoubtedly true that the principal defense upon which the defendants seem to have relied in the state court was, that by intentional misrepresentation the plaintiff had obtained a rate based upon a valuation of fifty dollars, and that they had thereby secured transportation of the property for which they sue, at a less rate than that named in the tariffs published and filed by the carrier as required by the Acts of Congress regulating commerce, and thus obtained an illegal advantage and caused an illegal discrimination forbidden by the Acts referred to. But this defense rested upon the misrepresentation as to real value declared only in the carrier's receipt, and, therefore, involved the consequence of the undervaluation by which an unlawful rate had been obtained. The question at last would be shall the shipper or owner recover nothing because of that misrepresentation, or only the valuation declared to obtain the rate upon which the goods were carried? The latter would seem to be the more reasonable and just consequence of the estoppel. The ground upon which the validity of a limitation upon a recovery for loss or damage due to negligence depends is that of estoppel."