CHAP. 614.—An ACT to further regulate and control common-
carriers doing business in this state and further defining the
duties of the railroad commissioner in relation thereto.

Approved March 8, 1892.

1. Long and short haul—greater compensation for a
shorter than for a longer diatance forbidden.—Be it en-
acted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it shall
be unlawful for any common carrier doing business in this
state to charge or receive any greater compensation in the
aggregate for the transportation of passengers, or of like
kind of property under substantially similar circumstances
and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance
over the same line in the same direction, the shorter being
included within the longer distance. But this act shal]
not be construed as authorizing any common carrier to
charge and receive as great compensation for a shorter as
for a longer distance: provided, however, that upon appll1-
cation to the railroad commissioner such common carrier
may, in special cases, after,;investigation by the railroad
commissioner, be authorized to charge less for longer tha:
for shorter distances for the transportation of passenger:
or property, and the commissioner may from time to time
prescribe the extent to which such designated common
carrier may be relieved from the operation of this act.

2. Special rates—rebates—drawbacks—unjust discrimi-
nation prohibited.—If any common carrier subject to the
provisions of this act shall, directly or indirectly, by any
speeial rate, rebate, drawback, or other device, charge, de-
mand, collect, or receive from any person or persons a great:
er or less compensation for any service rendered or to be ren-
dered in the transportation of passengers or property, subject
to the provisions of this act, than it charges, demands, col-
lects, or receives from any other person or persons for doing
for him or them a Jike and contemporaneous service in the
transportation of a like kind of traffic under substantially
similar circumstances and conditions, such common
carrier shall be deemed guilty of unjust discrimination,
which is hereby prohibited and declared to be unlawful.

3. Undue or unreasonable preferences prohibited.—lt
shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the
provisions of this act to make or to give any undue or un-
reasonable preference or advantage to any particular per-
son, company, firm, corporation, or locality, or any pat-
ticular description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever, or
to subject any particular person, company, firm, corpors-
tion, or locality, or any particular description of traffic, to
any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage ip
any respect whatsoever.

4. Interchange of traffic—All common carriers subject
to the provisions of this act shall, according to their re-
spective powers, and with due regard to the exigencies of
their other traffic, afford all reasonable, proper and equal
facilities for the interchange of traffic between their re-
spective lines, and for receiving, forwarding and deliver-
ing of passengers and property to and from their several
lines and those connecting therewith, and shall not dis-
criminate in their rates and charges between such connect-
ing lines; but this shall not be construed as requiring any
such common carrier to establish or maintain unremunera-
tive train service, or to give the use of its track or terminal
facilities to another carrier engaged in a like business.

5. Schedule of rates to be printed and made public—
Every common ¢arrier subject to the provisions of this act
shall print and keep open to public inspection schedules
showing the rates and fares and charges for the transpor-
tation of passengers and property which any such common
carrier has established and which are in force at the time
upon its route. The schedules printed as aforesaid by
any such common carrier shall plainly state the places
upon its route between which property and passengers will
be carried, and shall contain the classification of freight
in force, and shall also state separately the terminal
charges, and any rules or regulations which in any wise
change, affect or determine any part, or the aggregate of
such aforesaid rates and fares and charges. Such sched-
ules shall be plainly printed in large type, and copies for
the use of the public shall be posted in two public and
conspicuous places in every depot, station or office of such
carrier where passengers or freight respectively are re-
ceived for transportation, in such form that they shall be
accessible to the public and can be conveniently inspected.

Advance in rates: ten days’ notice—reduction in rates:
three days’ notice-——No advance shall be made in the
rates and fares and charges which have been established
and published as aforesaid by any common carrier in com-
pliance with the requirements of this section, except after
ten days’ public notice, which shall plainly state the
changes proposed to be made in the schedule then in force,
and the time when the increased rates and fares and
charges will go into effect; and the proposed changes
shall be shown by printing new schedules, or shall be
plainly indicated upon the schedules in force at the time,
and kept open to public mspection. Reductions in such
published rates, fares, or charges shall only be made after
three days’ previous public notice, to be given in the same
manner that notice of an advance in rates must be given.

No variations from published rates—And when any
such common carrier shall have established and published
its rates and fares and charges, in compliance with the
provisions of this section, it shall be unlawful for such
common carrier to charge, demand, collect or receive from
any person or persons a greater or less compensation for
the transportation of passengers or property, or for any
services in connection therewith, than is specified in such
published schedule of rates and fares and charges as may
at the time be in force.

Copies of schedules filed with the commissioner.—
Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this act
shall file with the railroad commissioner copies of its
schedules of rates and fares and charges which have been
established and published in compliance with the require-
ments of this section, and shall promptly notify said com-
missioner of all changes made in the same.

6. False billing, classification, and weighing pro-
hibited. Any common carrier subject to the provisions of
this act, or, whenever such common carrier 1s a corporation,
any officer or agent thereof, or any person acting for or
employed by such corporation, who, by means of false
billing, false classification, false weighing, or false report
of weight, or by any other device or means, shall know-
ingly 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 establishe
and in force on the line of transportation of such commo!
carrier, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, an
shall, upon conviction thereof in any court of competen
jurisdiction within the county or city in which suc!
offence was committed, be subject to the penalties herein
after prescribed in section thirteen.

Ayy person and any officer or agent of any corporatior
or company who shall deliver property for transportatior
to any common carrier subject to the provisions of thi
act, or for whom as consignor or consignee any such com
mon carrier shall transport property, who shall knowing}s
and willfully, by false billing, false classification, false
weighing, false representation of the contents of the pack.
age, or false report of weight, or by any other fraudulent
device or means, whether with or without the consent o1
connivance of the carrier, its agent or agents, obtain trans-
portation for such property at less than the regular rates
then established and in force on the line of transportation,
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon
conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction
within the county or city in which such offence was com-
mitted, be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor
more than five hundred dollars for each offence.

If any such person, or any officer or agent of any such
corporation or company, shall, by the payment of money
or other thing of value, solicitation or otherwise, fraudu-
lently 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 un-
just 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 competent jurisdiction, be fined not less than
one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars
for each offence.

7. Duplicate bills of lading to be issued.—All common
carriers doing business in this state shall, on demand,
issue duplicate freight receipts to shippers, in which shall
be stated the class or classes of freight shipped and the
freight charges over the road giving the receipt.

It shall be the duty of every company, upon the arrival
of freight shipped to any of its depots or stations, to
notify the consignee by mail or otherwise when such
freight is ready for delivery, and give a reasonable time
for the removal of the same, making due allowance for
its class and for bad weather and holidays.

8. Expense bills to be furnished.—Every common car-
rier doing business in this state shall, at the time such
company delivers any article shipped or transported over
its line, furnish to the owner or consignee thereof, or to
his agent, a bill plainly stating the class of freight to
which said articles belong, the weight thereof, and the
rate charged for transporting the same.

9. Telegraph offices to be established and maintained
at depots.—Every railroad company doing business in this
state shall establish and maintain along its line, at depots
or stations, not more than ten miles apart, telegraphic of-
fices, to be operated for the protection of its train service
by competent persons in the employ of such company:
provided, however, that the railroad commissioner may
grant such company, in special cases, permission to have
its telegraphic offices at the distance from each other
greater than ten but not more than fifteen miles. Itshall
be the duty of every such operator to telegraph the arrival
and departure of every train, as soon as it shall leave the
depot or station, to the train dispatcher or other person
regulating the running of trains, and if there be no such
persons, then to the nearest telegraph office in the direc-
tion in which such train is going. The person receiving the
telegram shall forthwith give such order or notification by
telegraph as may be necessary to prevent any collision of
trains.

10. Opening of ticket offices in due time.—lIt shall be
the duty of every railroad company in this state to have
its ticket offices opened, and its agents for the sale of tick-
ets in attendance, and at the termini of its road the pas-
senger cars open for the admission of passengers, and bag-
gage cars for the reception of baggage, at least thirty min-
utes before the advertised hour of departure of every pas-
senger train.

11. Commissioner required to make annual reports.—The
railroad commissioner shall annually, on the first day of
November, make a report of all his transactions during the
preceding year, and transmit the same to the governor,
to be laid by him before the general assembly at the next
meeting thereof. The report shall contain such informa-
tion derived from the reports of railroad companies as the
commissioner may deem useful and proper; also such
statements and explanations as will describe the actual
working of the system of railroad transportation in its
bearing upon the business and prosperity of the state, and
any suggestion as to the general railroad policy of the state,
or in any part thereof, or as to the condition, affairs, or
conduct of any railroad company doing business in this
state, which may seem to the commissioner appropriate ;
and also a special statement of all accidents occurring in
this state on the line of any such company during the

receding year, and the causes thereof. And the reports
heretofore required by section twelve hundred and thirty-
seven of the code of Virginia to be made to the board o!
public works shall hereafter be made to the railroad com
missioner.

12. Commissioner to publish the laws, and the same tc
be posted at stations.—The railroad commissioner shal
annually, on the first day of May, publish a compilatior
of the statute laws governingcommon carriers in the stat
of Virginia, and shall furnish a sufficient number of copies
to each railroad company, or person operating the same
as to enable such company, or person operating the same,
to post and keep posted conspicuously in every passenge!
and freight depot of the company acopy of such laws,
and every such company, or person operating the same, if
hereby required to see that such copies, when furnished
by the railroad commissioner, are posted and kept posted
in the manner described.

13. Penalties imposed for the violation of laws.—Any
common carrier failing to comply with the provisions of
this act, or of the general laws of this state relating to the
transportation of freight and passengers by common car-
riers when not otherwise provided for. by this act or the
general law, shall for each violation be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof in any court of
competent jurisdiction be fined not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.

14. Remedy for the violation of law; notice to be given
and order to be entered— Whenever upon complaint made to
the railroad commissioner or from his own knowledge, and
after he has given the common carrier complained of rea-
sonable notice and an opportunity to be heard and has
fully investigated the complaint, it shall appear to said
commisssioner that any common carrier doing business in
this state has failed or neglected in any respect or particu-
lar to comply with the provisions of this act or with apy
of the laws of this commonwealth relating to the transpor-
tation of freight and passengers by common carriers,
especially in regard to connections with other railroads,
the rates of toll and the time schedule, he shall, in writing,
request the said common carrier, or person operating the
company, to correct the cause of complaint. If after ten
days the said company neglects or refuses, the said com-
missioner shall, in the name of the commonwealth, proceed
to have all matters or cause of complaint adjusted by the
circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, of the
county or city wherein the cause of complaint arose, bav-
ing first given the said common carrier, or person operating
the company, ten days’ notice, which notice shal] contain
the cause of complaint. The case shall be heard by the said
circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, on said n0-
tice, and no other pleadings shall be required. The said
court or judge, if its decision is in favor of the common:

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wealth, shall by mandatory or restraining order prevent
the common carrier or person complained of from further
continuing to violate the Jaw. It shall also be the duty
of the commissioner to require every such common carrier
to post and keep posted conspicuously in every passenger
and freight depot of the company a copy of this section,
printed in large type on card board, in which shall also be
stated the name of the commissioner and the location of
his office, and to that end the commissioner shall furnish
a sufficient number of copies.

15. Service of notice in such cases.—The notice required
in the preceding section shall be served and returned in
the manner now prescribed by law for the service of notices
on corporations, or on trustee, lessee, or receiver of cor-
porations, or any individual, as the case may be, and the
return thereof; and any person keeping, attending to, or
having charge of any wharf along the route of said com-
pany shall be deemed an agent on whom notice may be
served under this act, or service upon any clerk or purser
of any steamboat or steamship shall be sufficient service
upon the company.

16. Commonwealth’s attorney to appear.—It shall be
the duty of the commonwealth’s attorney of any county
or city in which proceedings are instituted under this act
to represent the state, and such proceedings shall have
precedence over all others on the docket in either court.

17. Right of appeal—attorney-general to appear—fees
to be allowed.—Either the commonwealth or any common
carrier being aggrieved by any judgment, order or ruling
made by any circuit court or judge thereof, under the
provisions of this act, shall have the right to except
thereto, and have such exceptions entered of record, and
have the right by bill of exceptions to have any evidence
introduced made a part of the record; and the right to
present a petition to the supreme court of appeals for an
appeal, writ of error, or supersedeas to any final judg-
ment, order, or ruling complained of, and the right to such
appeal, writ of error, or supersedeas shall be determined,
and, if allowed, the case shall be proceeded in, heard, and
finally determined in like cases made and provided. In
any case determined in the circuit court, or by the judge
thereof in vacation, in favor of the commonwealth, an
attorney’s fee of ten dollars shal] be taxed against the
company; and in the supreme court of appeals an attor-
ney’s fee of twenty dollars shall be taxed as part of the
costs for the attorney-general, who shall appear for the
commonwealth in all cases in the supreme court of appeals.

18. Definition of common carrier.—The term “ common
carrier” shal] be construed to include any railroad, express
or ;canal company chartered by this or any other state,
and doing business in this state, and any steamboat,
steamship or ferry company doing business in this state,
whether incorporated or not, and whether operated or
controlled by an individual or partnership.

19. Free or reduced rates; excursion or commutation
tickets; passes and free transportation.—That nothing in
this act shall apply to the carriage, storage or handlingoof
property free or at reduced rates for the United States,
state or municipal goveruments, or for charitable pur-
poses, or to or from fairs and expositions for exhibition
thereat, or the free carriage of destitute and homeless
persons, and the necessary agents employed in such trans-
portation, or to mileage, excursion or commutation pas-
senger tickets, or to persons in charge of live stock being
shipped from the point of shipment to the point of desti-
nation and return; nothing in this act shall be construed
to prohibit any common carrier from giving reduced rates
to ministers of religion or to indigent persons, or to in-
mates of the Confederate homes or state homes for dis-
abled soldiers, and of disabled soldiers and sailors, in-
cluding those about to enter and those returning home
after discharge, or carrying the same free; nothing in
this act shall be construed to prevent common carriers
from giving free carriage to their own officers, employees
and members of their families, or to prevent the principal
officers of any railroad company or companies from ex-
changing passes or tickets with other railroad companies
for their officers, employees and members of their fami-
lies; and nothing in this act contained shall in any way
abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law
or by statute, but the provisions of this act are in addi-
tion to such remedies: provided that no pending litiga-
tion shall in any way be affected by this act. |

20. Sections of the code of Virginia repealed.—Sections
one thousand two hundred and five, one thousand two
hundred and six, one thousand two hundred and eight,
one thousand two hundred and nine, one thousand two
hundred and ten, one thousand two hundred and eleven,
oné thousand two hundred and fourteen, one thousand two
hundred and twenty-four, one thousand two hundred and
thirty-eight, one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven,
one thousand three hundred and ten, and one thousand
three hundred, as amended by act approved March fourth,
eighteen hundred and ninety, of the code of Virginia,
eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, are hereby repealed;
but this act shall not be construed as otherwise altering
or repealing the general law of this state relating to com-
mon carriers and the duties of railroad commissioner, not
inconsistent with this act.

21. This act shall be in force from the first day of June,
eighteen hundred and ninety-two.