§ 1102. Stay of proceedings. 1103. Satisfaction of complaint. 1104. Conditions of granting reparation. 1105. Scrutiny of reparation agreements. 1106. Parties given opportunity to be heard. 1107. Hearing duly notified indispensable. 1108. Requisites as to hearings. 1109. Course of the proceedings. 1110. Limitation of actions. 1111. Dismissal when order unnecessary. Topic D. Evidence and Burden of Proof § 1112. Rules of evidence. 1113. Res adjudicata. 1114. Insufficient grounds for findings. 1115. Proof of damage required. 1116. Presumptions from voluntary continuance. 1117. Admissions by making changes. 1118. Privilege against self-crimination. 1119. Adverse interest of witnesses not to be considered. 1120. Testimony on both sides should be introduced. 1121. Production of books and papers. 1122. Burden of establishing case. 1123. Burden of justifying advances. 1070. Provisions of the Act. By section 13 which names the parties who may have recourse to the Commission it is provided that any person, firm, corporation, company, or association, or any mercantile, agricultural, or manufacturing society or other organization, or any body politic or municipal organization, or any common carrier, complaining of anything done or omitted to be done by any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act, in contravention of the provisions thereof, may apply to said Commission by petition, which shall briefly state the facts. Thereupon a statement of the complaint thus made shall be forwarded by the Commission to such common carrier, who shall be called upon to satisfy the complaint, or to answer the same in writing, within a reasonable time, to be specified by the Commission. If such common carrier within the time specified shall make reparation for the injury alleged to have been done, the common carrier shall be relieved of liability to the complainant only for the particular violation of law thus complained of. If such carrier or carriers shall not satisfy the complaint within the time specified, or there shall appear to be any reasonable ground for investigating said complaint, it shall be the duty of the Commission to investigate the matters complained of in such manner and by such means as it shall deem proper. The Commission shall, in like manner and with the same authority and powers, investigate any complaint forwarded by the railroad commissioner or railroad commission of any State or Territory at the request of such commissioner or commission, and the Commission shall have full authority and power at any time to institute an inquiry, on its own motion, in any case and as to any matter or thing concerning. which a complaint is authorized to be made, to or before said Commission by any provision of the Act, or concerning which any question may arise under any of the provisions of the Act, or relating to the enforcement of any of the provisions of this Act. The Commission shall have the same powers and authority to proceed with any inquiry instituted on its own motion as though it had been appealed to by complaint or petition under any of the provisions of this Act, including the power to make and enforce any order or orders in the case, or relating to the matter or thing concerning which the inquiry is had excepting orders for the payment of money. And by explicit provision no complaint shall at any time be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant. § 1071. Conduct of the proceedings. In regard to procedure before the Commission it is provided that the Commission may conduct its proceedings in such manner as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and to the ends of justice. The Commission may, from time to time, make or amend such general rules or orders as may be requisite for the order and regulation of proceedings before it, including forms of notices and the service thereof, which shall conform, as nearly as may be, to those in use in the courts of the United States. Any party may appear before said Commission and be heard, in person or by attorney, and the Commission may employ such attorneys as it finds necessary for proper legal aid and service of the Commission or its members in the conduct of their work or for proper representation of the public interests in investigations made by it or cases or proceedings pending before it, whether at the Commission's own instance or upon complaint. Every vote and official act of the Commission shall be entered of record, and its proceedings shall be public upon the request of either party interested. A majority of the Commission shall constitute a quorum and either of the members of the Commission may administer oaths and affirmations and sign subpœnas. The copies of schedules and classifications and tariffs of rates, fares, and charges, and of all contracts, agreements, and arrangements between common carriers filed with the Commission as herein provided, and the statistics, tables, and figures contained in the annual or other reports of carriers made to the Commission as required under the provisions of this Act shall be preserved as public records in the custody of the secretary of the Commission, and shall be received as prima facie evidence of what they purport to be for the purpose of investigations by the Commission and in all judicial proceedings. In this connection it should be noted, that the current Rules of Practice governing proceedings before the Commission are printed in the Appendix to this volume. Topic A. Proceedings Before the Commission § 1072. Procedure in regular course. The practice and procedure of the Commission has from the first been made as simple as possible, consistent with justice. It desires that without dilatory motions, pleas in abatement or other interlocutory proceedings, the matter in question may be brought to an issue at the earliest practicable day when a final hearing may be had forthwith, and all proper questions will then be entertained, whether jurisdictional or going to the merits of the controversy. The Commission will decline to take up any motion, the object of which is to reach the merits of the case and have them discussed and passed upon summarily, instead of at the customary hearing." In accordance with this view, the Commission desires counsel to simplify the issues so far as possible by agreeing upon facts involved. The first chairman, Judge Cooley, wrote in a letter in connection with a petition of the Boards of Trade Union of Minnesota,68 that "the major portion of the facts are not in dispute at all, and as to all such facts we are compelled to insist that counsel shall stipulate them in advance. In such a case as this, the facts must be largely matters of public notoriety, and it would be altogether wrong to calculate upon taking up time to prove them by oral evidence. An agreement upon them should be all ready before we take up the case. Of course it would not be expected parties should agree upon the consequences flowing from the facts, but even as to these it is not generally necessary to go into proof as in a suit at law, for the Commission will apply its own judgment where all that is requisite is an application of ordinary common sense, and will not require or expect that evidence be adduced to show that usual results have followed." § 1073. Scope of the proceedings enlarged. It is recognized also by the courts that, unless the requirement of the Constitution that there shall be in any action of any department of the government due process of law is substantially denied, an administrative body is not to be held to the rigorous limitations of a judicial 67 Associated Wholesale Grocers v. 68 1 Int. Com. Rep. 446. Missouri Pac. R. R., 1 Int. Com. Rep. 321, 1 I. C. C. 156. tribunal. The case of Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad v. Interstate Commerce Commission 69 is the leading case to the effect that the Commission is not confined to taking action responsive to the pleadings with which the proceedings were originally begun. It was held in that case that the Commission, in making an investigation on complaint of a shipper, has in the public interest the power, disembarrassed by any supposed admissions contained in the statement of the complaint, to consider the whole subject and the operation of the new classification complained of in the entire territory. If the Commission finds a new classification of rates engenders discrimination it has power on its own motion to prohibit the further enforcement of the same. The explanation of all this, as has been seen in another connection, is that the Commission has combined in its constitution two functions; as administrative body it may institute proceedings, but it passes upon the matters thus brought before it quasi-judicially.70 It should be noted, however, that within the range of its discretion in determining the reasonableness of rates it is entitled to select the testimony which it will rely upon according as it addresses itself to the discriminating judgment of the Commission, as was pointed out in Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Interstate Commerce Commission.71 § 1074. Course of the pleadings. The Commission should exhaust its activities in developing pertinent facts necessary to full investigation and hearing of complaints. Even if complainant asks only reparation the Commission in deference to rights of public may take up the existing rate.72 Where full hearing has been had the Commission in its discretion may if it feels nec 69206 U. S. 142, 27 Sup. Ct. 648. 70 Quammen & Austad Lumber Co. v. C., M. & St. P. Ry., 19 I. C. C. 110. 71 195 Fed. 541. 72 Acme Cement Plaster Co. v. Union Pacific R. R., Unrep. Op. 41. |