By ordinance adopted in 1921, South Bend, Ind., prohibited with exceptions not here material, the operation on its streets of any motorbus, for hire unless licensed by the city. Sprout, a resident of that state, operated regularly a bus with seats for twelve persons between points within South Bend and the city of Niles, Mich. He paid the state registration fee, but refused to apply for a city license. In 1923, he was prosecuted by the city in a local court for violation of the ordinance and defended on the ground that it was invalid as applied to him. The case was heard on agreed facts. Sprout claimed, among other things, that the ordinance violated the commerce clause and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. These claims were overruled; a penalty of $50 was imposed; and the judgment of the trial court was affirmed by the highest court of the state. 198 Ind. 563, 153 N. E. 504. (Rehearing denied, 154 N. E. 369, 49 A. L. R. 1198). The case is here on writ of error. Compare John P. King Manufacturing Co. v. City Council of Augusta, No. 392, 277 U.S. 100, 48 S.C.t. 489, 72 L. Ed. 801, this day decided.
The ordinance prescribes license fees varying with the seating capacity of the bus. That for a bus with seats for twelve persons is $50 a year. Before the license can issue, the applicant must file with the city a contract of liability insurance providing for the payment of any final judgment that may be rendered for damages to property or the person resulting from the negligent operation of the bus within the city. The amount of insurance required is limited to a liability of $1,000 to any one person and of $2,500 for damages arising from a single accident. The insurance must be furnished by a company authorized to do business within the state. These requirements apply alike to busses operating wholly within the city and to those operating from points within it to points without. The ordinance makes no distinction between busses engaged exclusively in interstate commerce, those engaged exclusively in intrastate commerce, and those engaged in both classes of commerce. Nor does the ordinance, in its requirement of liability insurance, distinguish in terms between liability to passengers travelling interstate and other liability resulting from negligent operation.