The plaintiff in error was convicted in the district court of Arapahoe county, Colorado, and sentenced to confinement for six months in the county jail for a violation of the 2d section of a statute enacted March 21st, 1885, to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases among the cattle and horses of that state. Colo. Sess. Laws 1885, p. 335.
The judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state, and, the case having been brought here, it is insisted that by the final judgment the accused has been denied a right specially claimed by him under the Constitution of the United States.
This position depends upon the inquiry whether a certain act of Congress, to be presently referred to, has the scope and effect attributed to it by the accused, and, that contention failing, whether the statute under which he was convicted is repugnant to that instrument.
After reciting that certain infectious and contagious diseases, known as the Texas or splenetic fever, Spanish itch, and other diseases of a dangerous and contagious nature, were prevalent among cattle and horse stock in the states and territories south of the 36th parallel of north latitude, and that it was essential for the protection of the cattle and horses of Colorado to prevent the introduction and spread of all such diseases within that state, the above statute provided:
'§ 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, association, or corporation to bring or drive, or cause to be brought or driven, into this state any cattle or horses having an infectious or contagious disease, or which have been herded, or brought into contact, with any other cattle or horses laboring under such disease, at any time within ninety days prior to their importation into this state.
'§ 2. It shall be unlawful for any person, association, or corporation to bring or drive, or cause to be brought or driven, into this state, between the first day of April and the first day of November, any cattle or horses from a state, territory, or county, south of the 36th parallel of north latitude, unless said cattle or horses have been held at some place north of the said parallel of latitude for a period of at least ninety days prior to their importation into this state, or unless the person, association, or corporation owning or having charge of such cattle or horses shall procure from the state veterinary sanitary board a certificate, or bill of health, to the effect that said cattle or horses are free from all infectious or contagious diseases, and have not been exposed, at any time within ninety days prior thereto, to any of said diseases. The expense of any inspection connected herewith to be paid by the owner or owners of such cattle or horses.
'§ 3. Any person violating the provision of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred (500) dollars, nor more than five thousand (5,000) dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of not less than six months, and not exceeding three years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
'§ 4. If any person, association, or corporation shall bring, or cause to be brought, into this state, any cattle or horses, in violation of the provisions of sections 1 or 2 of this act, or shall, by false representation, procure a certificate of health, as provided for in section 2 of this act, he or they shall be liable, in all cases, for all damages sustained on account of disease communicated by or from said cattle or horses; judgment for damages in any such case, together with the costs of action, shall be a lien upon all such cattle and horses, and a writ of attachment may issue in the first instance without the giving of a bond, and the court rendering such judgment may order the sale of said cattle or horses, or so many thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said judgments and costs. Such sale shall be conducted as other sales under execution.' Colo. Sess. Laws 1885, p. 335.