that on the continent of Europe during the latter part of the Middle Ages this branch of internal police was first called into existence. Since the last century health and safety have become prominent objects of the so-called social legislation-that is to say, legislation for the benefit of wage earners, covering chiefly the following subjects: factories, mines, ships, and tenements. § 112. Principal subjects of legislation.-The legislation in the interest of safety and health is so extensive that it is not possible to do more than indicate its principal subjects and the measures adopted for dealing with them. This will at the same time serve to define the scope of these two interests for the purposes of the police power. SAFETY LEGISLATION. §§ 113-121. § 113. In the legislation which seeks to afford protection from injury or destruction due to mechanical causes, the following principal agencies or dangers are guarded against: water, fire, explosion, the power of moving bodies, structural defects, and the action of animals. According to subjects regulated or dealt with we may distinguish: lands subject to floods; mines; railroads; ships and navigation; buildings; machinery; explosive and combustible materials and poisons; dangerous animals and destructive vermin and other pests. § 114. Protection against overflow and inundation.-The action of the state is chiefly proprietary, by improvements of the channels of rivers, the erection and maintenance of dikes and levees, and the drainage of surface waters. Under early legislation of Louisiana, the duty to erect embankments was laid upon the riparian proprietor; in other states such an obligation does not exist, and probably cannot be constitutionally imposed, under the principle of equality; but where a number of pieces of land forming a large tract are similarly exposed, an owner may be compelled to join with others in common measures of protection, and there is authority for holding that the riparian proprietor may be forbidden to deal with his 3 Gierke Genossenschaftsrecht, II, S. 269; Eldridge v. Trezevant, 160 729. U. S. 452. 4 See §§ 616-619. 5 As to riparian rights, see §§ 403409, infra; Green v. Swift, 47 Cal. 526; Gibson v. United States, 166 U. 6 See § 409, infra. 7 See §§ 441, 442, infra, compulsery joint improvements. land in such a manner as to weaken the natural protection afforded by it against the inroads of the water.s Under the law of necessity, without statutory authority, all able-bodied persons may be required to assist in warding off a present and immediate danger of inundation." § 115. Mines.10-Legislation for the safety of miners exists in all states in which mining operations are carried on. For a recent revision and codification of the laws regarding bituminous coal mines see Illinois Act of April, 1899; regarding anthracite coal mines, the act of Pennsylvania in Brightly and Purdon's Digest, 1895, p. 1342. The provisions relate to maps and surveys, the construction of shafts, the observance of proper partitions, the operation of hoisting engines and other machinery, the storage and use of explosives, ventilation and lighting, and signal codes. The state exercises supervision over mines through inspectors, and requires certificates of competency granted upon examination of those employed as managers or foremen, hoisting engineers, and mine examiners, at the same. time frequently compelling such employment.11 For question arising as to statutory liability in case of such compulsory employment, see § 624, infra. § 116. Railroads.12-The police power is exercised by statutory legislation and by municipal ordinances in the interest of the public at large using highways at railroad crossings, of passengers, of railroad employees, and of the owners of property liable to be injured or destroyed by the operation of railroad trains. Regulations, restraints, and requirements relate to the following matters: the rate of speed of trains in cities; warning sign boards, gates, and flagmen at crossings; grade elevation or depression;13 switches, brakes, couplers, signals; the use of stoves in cars; fences and cattle guards; employment of sufficient numbers of men and of men properly qualified, and testing such qualification by examination;14 provisions against overwork of train operators; supervision, sometimes at the expense of the railroad company; strict responsibility for in 8 Commw. v. Tewksbury, 11 Metc. 55, 409, infra. 14 South Covington &c. Street Car Co. v. Berry, 93 Ky. 43, 15 L. R. A. Penrice v. Wallis, 37 Miss. 172. 604; State v. Inhabitants of Tren10 See § 638. 11 Illinois Act, §§ 7, 8, 16, 17, 18. ton, 53 N. J. L. 132, 11 L. R. A. 410; Smith v. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465. juries to persons or property. Constitutional questions arising with regard to some of these requirements will be discussed in their proper places; it is sufficient here to say that the amplest exercise of the police power is sustained by the courts in this field of legislation. § 117. Ships and navigation.15-The great bulk of legislation in this matter is federal, enacted under the constitutional power of the United States over commerce. But the regulation of port pilotage is left to the states,16 and state laws contain. other provisions regarding the safety of navigation within their limit.17 Local municipal authority also frequently extends to the enactment of harbor regulations.18 As regards federal legislation, the establishment and maintenance of lighthouses and life saving stations belongs to the proprietary powers of the government; the following provisions fall within the province of the police power: laws for the prevention of collisions at sea, in harbors, rivers, and inland waters, and on the great lakes, by prescribing lights, fog signals, and sailing and steering rules;19 relating to the transportation of nitroglycerine,20 gunpowder,21 and other inflammable or dangerous materials;22 steam boilers and their inspection;23 licensing of captains, chief mates, engineers, and steamer pilots ;24 safeguards for the prevention and extinguishment of fire, and for the saving of lives in emergencies.25 Many of these safeguards are also required of foreign vessels carrying passengers from ports of the United States to other places and countries,26 such vessels being clearly within the police power of the United States, while they are in an American port engaged in taking passengers. 15 See § 625. 16 U. S. Rev. Stat. 4235, 4444. 17 See 1 N. Y. Rev. Stat., p. 683. 18 Illinois City Act V, § 1, Nos. 33, 34, 35, 38, 39; Chicago Rev. Code, 1897, Title Harbors; Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 196. 19 U. S. Rev. Stat., §§ 4233, 4412, Act Aug. 19, 1890, I Suppl. 781; Act Feby. 8, 1895, II Suppl. 370; Act. Feby. 19, 1895, II Suppl. 381. 20 U. S. Rev. Stat., 4278-4280. 21 U. S. Rev. Stat., § 4422. 22 U. S. Rev. Stat., §§ 4288, 44724476. 23 U. S. Rev. Stat., §§ 4428-4438. 24 U. S. Rev. Stat., §§ 4439-4442; Pacific Mail S. S. Co. v. Joliffe, 2 Wall. 450; Spraigue v. Thompson, 118 U. S. 90. 25 U. S. Rev. Stat., §§ 4471, 4477, 4478, 4479, 4482, 4484, 4488. 26 Act Aug. 7, 1882, I Suppl., p. 383. § 118. Buildings and structures.-The legislation dealing with this matter is generally local whether enacted by state or by municipal authority.27 Provisions relate to the mode of construction and materials used, as prescribed by elaborate building regulations; the establishment of fire limits, prohibiting within cities or designated portions thereof the erection of frame houses, and the repair of those damaged or decayed to more than a specified proportion of their value;28 the limitation of height of buildings; the requirement, in case of hotels and lodging houses, tenements, office buildings, factories, theatres and public halls, of precautions and arrangements against fires and for escape, and for the protection of stairs and hatchways; analogous provisions for other structures, such as stands and platforms, or the scaffolding of buildings; even the limitation of the height of billboards to six feet has been upheld as a proper safety measure;29 provisions for building permits and inspection to control the carrying out of these laws; in recent times the control of the qualification of architects by examination and certificate.30 In dealing with actual fires the community primarily renders service and assistance; but under the pressure of extreme necessity the police power may be carried to extraordinary lengths: buildings may be torn down to check the spread of a conflagration, and persons present may be required to render services in obedience to the instructions of proper authorities.31 In the interest of common safety, owners may also be forbidden to set fire to their own buildings, woods or prairies.32 § 119. Dangerous machinery, inflammable materials, explosives, poisons, etc.—A great many police regulations fall under these heads, covering among others the following subjects: machinery in factories (belting, gearing, shafting, cleaning while in operation, employment of children upon it); construction and inspection of boilers and elevators, and examination and licensing of engineers; testing and inspection of oils and labelling packages; insulation of electric wires, placing them underground, etc.; sale of poisons in properly labeled packages; 27 See Mass. Rev. Laws, chap. 104. 28 See § 537, infra. 29 Rochester v. West, 164 N. Y. 510, 58 N. E. 673. 30 Illinois Act June 3, 1897 32 Illinois Crim. Code, §§ 17, 18. manufacture, transportation and storage of gunpowder, nitroglycerine, and dynamite; fire works; precautions in blasting. § 120. Dangerous sports.-The common provisions against fast riding and driving fall under this head, and laws exist in some states requiring precautions in acrobatic or aeronautic exhibitions, or forbidding certain forms of dangerous exhibitions altogether;33 recent legislation requires keepers of bathing establishments to maintain safety lines and life boats. § 121. Destructive animals and vermin, noxious weeds, and other pests. The police power is exercised by authorising the shooting of fierce dogs not properly guarded.34 The statute books of recent years are full of provisions against agencies destructive of the products of the soil. In some cases it is attempted to lay upon the owner of land a duty of extermination.35 An act of Illinois of 1899 requires the State Entomologist to inspect tree nurseries, and to issue certificates of soundness; if stock is infected the owner may be required to take measures, and may be forbidden to remove any stock, and provision is made for treatment, partly at the expense of the owner, partly at the expense of the state, and for the destruction of the stock which cannot be saved.36 SANITARY LEGISLATION. §§ 122-133,87 § 122. There is a large amount of corporate public action in the interest of public health which will not be discussed in this treatise the maintenance of hospitals, provision of pure water, establishment of parks, sewer systems and drainage, cleaning of streets, also the furnishing of information and advice tending to reduce disease and promote health. The police power operates on persons; land, structures and establishments; obnoxious things; and on business, trades, employments and professions. § 123. Persons-Immigration and quarantine. 38-Restraints are placed upon persons to guard against the introduction or 33 New York Penal Code, § 427. 34 See § 421, infra. 35 Illinois Crim. Code, §§ 40, 41; New York Laws, 1878, ch. 49; § 618, infra. 36 See also New York Agricultural Law, § 83. 37 A very full account of American sanitary legislation will be found in a recent work by Charles V. Chapin, Municipal Sanitation of the United States, Providence, 1901. 38 See §§ 446, 447. |