Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/254

 OCTOBER TF., 1907. Opinlon of tile Oourt. 209 v,j.. 8. cause its operation in the particular instance works a violation of a constitutional right; for the cases are numerous where the tax laws of a State, which in their general and proper applica tion are perfectly valid, have been held to become void in particular casce, either as unconstitutional regulations of com- meree, or as violations of contracts prohibited by the Constitu- tion, or because in some other way they operate to deprive the party complaining of a right secured to him by the Constitu- tion of the United States." And inquiries of fact may be necessary to exhibit the unconstitutionality of'a statute, Reagan v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., 154 U.S. 362, and ,..qmyth v. Ames, 169 U.S. 466. It being then the right of a party to be protected against a law which violates a constitutional right, whether by its term or the manner of its enforcement, it is manifest that a decision which denice such protection gives effect to the law, and the decidon is reviewable by this court. Wlminton &c. v. brook, 146 U.S. 279. We are brought, then, to consider whether the law would,' if It(]m|nlstered against the oits in controversy, violate any con- stitutional right of plaintiff in error. As determining an affirmative answer to this question, it is contended that the oil in both tanks was in transit from the place of manufacture, Pennsylvania, to the place of sale, Arkansas. The delay at Memphis, it is urged, was merely for the purpo of separation, distribution and reshipment, and was no longer than required by the nature of the bnsinese and the exigencies of transportation. The difference in the oil in tank No. 1 and that in tank No. 2, it is further said, is that the former was sold before shipment, and the latter was to be held in Tennessee for sale, but in neither case was the oil to be sold in Tennessee, and it is hence insisted that the interstate transit ' of the oil was never finally ended in Memphis, but was only temporarily interrupted there. The beginning and the ending of the transit which consti-' tutes interstate commerce are easy to mark. The first is de-

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