Mayfield–Newton Act Explained

Shorttitle:Mayfield–Newton Act
Othershorttitles:Mayfield Act
Pub. L. 69-804 Ch. 510
Longtitle:An act to amend the Interstate Commerce Act and the Transportation Act, 1920, and for other purposes.
Enacted By:69th
Acts Amended:Interstate Commerce Act
Esch–Cummins Act
Introducedin:Senate
Introducedbill:S. 3286
Introducedby:Earle B. Mayfield, D–TX and Walter H. Newton, R–MN
Signedpresident:Calvin Coolidge
Signeddate:March 4, 1927

In United States federal law, the Mayfield–Newton Act, or the Mayfield Act,[1] was an act passed by the United States Congress on March 4, 1927,[2] amending the Interstate Commerce Act, the Esch–Cummins Act, and the Uniform Bill of Lading[3] to "authorize reduced freight rates in cases of emergency", including earthquake, fire, flood, famine drought, epidemic, and pestilence.[4] Sponsored by Sen. Earle B. Mayfield (D) of Texas and Rep. Walter H. Newton (R) of Minnesota, the act changed the original maximum suspension, which had been fixed by the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, to 120 days, extendable by the Interstate Commerce Commission to 6 months – the Esch-Cummins Act reduced the extension period to 30 days while the Mayfield-Newton Act of 1927 replaced the provision with a single period of 7 months.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: TOPN: Mayfield Act . Legal Information Institute . Cornell Law School . 23 September 2019.
  2. Web site: Public Law 804 . LegisWorks . 23 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151102224159/http://legisworks.org/congress/69/publaw-804.pdf . 2 November 2015 . dead .
  3. Book: I.C.C. Practitioners' Journal. 1951. Association of Interstate Commerce Commission Practitioners.. en.
  4. Book: Commerce, United States Congress House Committee on Interstate and Foreign. The Rail Act of 1980: Background Materials. 1980. U.S. Government Printing Office. en.