HAMMOND PACKING COMPANY
v.
STATE OF MONTANA

U.S. | 1914-04-13
No. 278
233 U.S. 331 Supreme Court of the United States (1914) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 58 L. Ed. 985 · 34 S. Ct. 596 · 1914 U.S. LEXIS 1251 · SCDB 1913-161
Cited by 24 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Montana's license tax of one cent per pound on oleomargarine sales was upheld against a Fourteenth Amendment challenge, as the Court held that states have constitutional authority to tax and regulate oleomargarine differently from competing products like butter absent interference with interstate commerce. The decision affirmed that a state may classify products distinctly in revenue or police laws and discriminate between them based on legitimate state policy.

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.

Opinion of the Court
Me. Justice Holmes

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action to recover a license-tax of one cent per pound sold for carrying on the business of selling oleomargarine. The. answer, with some allegations not now material, admitted the facts and set up that § 4064 of the Political Code of Montana as amended by § 2763, Revised Codes, by which the tax was imposed, violates the Fourteenth Amendment. That is the only question raised here, so that other incidental or preliminary matters need not be mentioned. Judgment was entered for the State on the pleadings and the judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the State.

The argument for the'plaintiff in error is that, the tax being pronounced or assumed by the state courts to be a tax for revenue, it is unjustifiable to put oleomargarine in a class by itself and to discriminate, for instance, between it and butter. But we see no obstacle to doing so in the Constitution of the United States. Apart from interference with commerce among the States, a State may restrict the manufacture of oleomargarine in a way in which it does not hamper that of butter. Capital City Dairy Co. v. Ohio, 183 U. S. 238, 245, 246. It even may forbid the manufacture altogether. Powell v. Pennsylvania, 127 U. S. 678. It may express and carry out its policy as well in a. revenue as in a police law. Quong Wing v. Kirdendall, 223 U. S. 59, 62. The case really has been disposed of by previous decisions of. this court. McCray v. United States, 195 U. S. 27, 62, 63.

Judgment affirmed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis Co., 240 U.S. 342 (U.S. 1916)
    …see also Dobbins v. Los Angeles, 195 U. S. 223, 238; Murphy v. California, 225 U. S. 623; Postal Telegraph Co. v. Charleston, 153 U. S. 692, 699; McCray v. United States, 195 U. S. 27; Kehrer v. Stewart, 197 U. S. 60; Hammond Packing Co. v. Montana, 233 U. S. 331. The contention that the statute intimidates against a contest of its legality by the severity of its penalties and is therefore unconstitutional on that ground within the ruling in Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123, is not justified. Order reversed a…
  • McGoldrick v. Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., 309 U.S. 33 (U.S. 1940)
    …see Puget Sound Power & Light Co. v. Seattle, 291 U. S. 619, 625, and cases cited, it does not follow that intérstate commerce may be similarly affected by the practical operation of a. state taxing statute. Compare. Hammond Packing Co. v. Montana, 233 U. S. 331, Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, 292 U. S. 40, with Schollenberger v. Pennsylvania, 171 U. S. 1; Robbins v. Shelby County Taxing District, supra; Sprout v. South Bend, 277 U. S. 163. It is enough for present purposes [*57] that the rule of Robbins v. Shelb…
  • Louis K. Liggett Co. v. LEE, 288 U.S. 517 (U.S. 1933)
    …conclude that it should first try. the more temperate remedy of curbing the chain by imposing the handicap .of discriminatory license fees. Compare St. Louis- Poster Advertising Co. v. St. Louis, 249 U. S. 269, 274; Hammond Packing. Co. v. Montana, 233 U. S. 331, 333-334; Bradley v. Richmond, 227 U. S. 477, 480. “ Taxation is regulation just as prohibition is.” Compañía General de Ta [*575] bacos v. Collector, 275 U. S. 87, 96. And the State’s power to make social and economic experiments' is a broad one.…

Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited (12 total)

View all 12 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw