Clyde Mallory Lines v. Alabama Ex Rel. State Docks Commission

Background

The dispute involved the State Docks Commission, a state agency that adopted rules governing the Port of Mobile and set a schedule of "harbor fees," including a $7.50 charge for vessels of 500 tons and over. A shipping company operating coastwise vessels between New York and Mobile refused to pay, and the Commission sued to recover the fees. The Alabama courts upheld the fee; the company argued the charge was a forbidden “duty of tonnage” and an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce.

Reasoning

The Court accepted the state court’s finding that the fee paid for a general policing and supervision service in the harbor—enforcing speed, anchorage, reporting to the chief wharfinger, and preventing dangers like oil discharge—and that the fee’s purpose was to secure safety and efficient use of the port. The opinion explains that the constitutional ban on tonnage duties bars taxes that charge for the mere privilege of entering a port, but does not prevent reasonable charges for actual services that facilitate or protect port use. The Court held that a reasonable harbor policing charge is not a tonnage duty and does not unlawfully burden interstate commerce when it is a local regulation not displacing congressional action.

Real world impact

The decision lets the state docks agency collect reasonable fees to cover harbor supervision and safety services that benefit all vessels calling at the port. It affirms that local harbor regulations and related charges that incidentally affect interstate shipping are permissible unless they unduly impede commerce or are regulated by Congress.