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Tyson & Brother - United Theatre Ticket Offices, Inc. v. Banton

Supreme Court of the United States · 1927 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawDue ProcessPrice RegulationPolice PowerFourteenth Amendmentdue processprice fixingpublic interest

Facts

Appellant was a licensed New York ticket broker that resold large numbers of theatre and other entertainment tickets obtained from theatre box offices and other brokers. New York law declared admission prices for theatres and other entertainments to be affected with a public interest and prohibited resale by licensees at more than fifty cents above the printed ticket price. Appellant alleged state officials threatened to enforce the statute, revoke its license, enforce its bond, and pursue criminal penalties if it resold above that amount. Appellant sought injunctive relief on the ground that the statute deprived it of property and liberty without due process of law.

Issue

May New York, consistently with the Fourteenth Amendment, limit the price at which theatre and entertainment tickets may be resold by licensed ticket brokers on the theory that admission charges to such entertainments are affected with a public interest? More broadly, are theatres and similar entertainments sufficiently affected with a public interest to permit legislative price fixing?

Rule

The right of an owner to fix the price at which property shall be sold or used is an inherent attribute of property protected by due process. Legislative price fixing is ordinarily impermissible for merely private property or business and is valid only where the business or property has become affected with a public interest, meaning it has been devoted to a public use or bears a substantial, definite, and peculiar relation to the public that justifies public regulation of price. A legislative declaration that a business is affected with a public interest is not conclusive and remains open to judicial inquiry.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Colorado enacts a statute declaring that admission to concerts, comedy shows, and professional exhibitions in Denver is a business affected with a public interest. The law bars licensed ticket resellers from charging more than $10 above the face value printed on each ticket, even when no fraud or collusion is shown.

A reseller challenges the law under the Fourteenth Amendment. Which argument is strongest under the majority's rule?

Explanation. The majority held that the owner's right to fix the price of property is protected by due process, and price fixing is generally permissible only for property or businesses affected with a public interest in the relevant sense. Entertainments are private enterprises, not public utilities, not devoted to public use, and their ticket transactions are separate rather than interdependent. The legislature's declaration that the business is affected with a public interest does not settle the constitutional question.