This suit, under section 16 of the Act to Regulate Commerce (Act Feb. 4, 1887, c. 104, 24 Stat. 379, 384 (Comp. St. § 8584)), was brought against the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in the Federal District Court for Northern Alabama. By it the Sloss-Sheffield Company sought to recover $63,982.80, with interest, being the amount of a reparation order entered by the Interstate Commerce Commission for excessive freight charges exacted in violation of section 1 of the act (Comp. St. § 8563) Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 60 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 595; Id., 62 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 646. The charges here in question were paid between April 17, 1910, and September 15, 1915, on shipments of pig iron from the company's furnances in Alabama, over lines of the Louisville & Nashville as initial carrier, to purchasers at Ohio river crossings and points beyond in central freight association territory. The reparation directed was an incident of proceedings commenced April 16, 1912, to secure a reduction of the tariff rates. On June 1, 1914, an order was entered reducing rates for the future 35 cents a ton. Later a finding was made that to this extent the existing tariff rates had exceeded what was reasonable throughout the whole period, commencing two years prior to the filing of the original complaint before the Commission. The order sued on, which was entered July 12, 1921, accompanied what is known as the Seventh Supplemental Report. See Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co. v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 30 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 597; Id., 35 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 460; Id., 40 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 738; Id., 46 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 558; Id., 51 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 635; Id., 52 Interst. Com. Com'n R. 576.
The District Court, which heard the case without a jury, entered judgment in accordance with the Commission's order, except that it disallowed damages for the period between April 16, 1912, and July 22, 1913. Writs of error from the Circuit Court of Appeals were sued out by both the plaintiff and the defendant. That court entered judgment for $103,367.47, being the full amount awarded by the Commission, with interest, and thus affirmed, as modified, the judgment of the District Court. 295 F. 53. The carrier then sued out a writ of error from this court. It also filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, consideration of which was postponed to the hearing on the writ of error. Compare Southern Pacific Co. v. Darnell-Taenzer Lumber Co., 245 U.S. 531, 535, 38 S.C.t. 186, 62 L. Ed. 451. As the case is properly here on writ of error, the petition for certiorari is denied. Seventy-seven errors are formally assigned. Only 7 distinct contentions require separate consideration. Some of these relate to matters of procedure; others, to substantive rights. Some assert that complete defenses to the suit were erroneously overruled; others, that the amount of the recovery should have been reduced. Those which deal with matters of procedure will be considered first.