Norman v. Balt. & O. R. Co. - 294 U.S. 240, 55 S. Ct. 407 (1935)

Rule:

The broad and comprehensive national authority over the subjects of revenue, finance, and currency is derived from the aggregate of the powers granted to the Congress, embracing the powers to lay and collect taxes, to borrow money, to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standards of weights and measures, and the added express power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the other enumerated powers.

Facts:

These cases present the question of the validity of the Joint Resolution of the Congress, of June 5, 1933, with respect to the "gold clauses" of private contracts for the payment of money. This Resolution, the text of which is set forth in the margin, declares that "every provision contained in or made with respect to any obligation which purports to give the obligee a right to require payment in gold or a particular kind of coin or currency, or in an amount in money of the United States measured thereby" is "against public policy." Such provisions in obligations thereafter incurred are prohibited. The Resolution provides that "Every obligation, heretofore or hereafter incurred, whether or not any such provision is contained therein or made with respect thereto, shall be discharged upon payment, dollar for dollar, in any coin or currency which at the time of payment is legal tender for public and private debts." On January 30, 1934, the Congress passed the "Gold Reserve Act of 1934" (48 Stat. 337) which, by § 13, ratified and confirmed all the actions, regulations and orders taken or made by the President and the Secretary of the Treasury under the Act of March 9, 1933, or under § 43 of the Act of May 12, 1933, and, by § 12, with respect to the authority of the President to fix the weight of the gold dollar, provided that it should not be fixed "in any event at more than 60 per centum of its present weight." On January 31, 1934, the President issued his proclamation declaring that he fixed "the weight of the gold dollar to be 15 5/21 grains nine tenths fine," from and after that date. The question before the Court is one of power, not of policy. And that question touches the validity of these measures at but a single point, that is, in relation to the Joint Resolution denying effect to "gold clauses" in existing contracts. The Resolution must, however, be considered in its legislative setting and in the light of other measures in pari materia.

Issue:

Was the Joint Resolution of the Congress, of June 5, 1933, with respect to the "gold clauses" of private contracts for the payment of money valid?

Answer:

Yes.

Conclusion:

The court held that the resolution was valid, and affirmed the decisions of the lower courts. The resolution declared that any contractual provision that gave an obligee the right to require payment in gold was against public policy. In concluding that the joint resolution was constitutional, the court opined that the broad and comprehensive national authority over the subjects of revenue, finance, and currency was derived from the aggregate of the powers granted to Congress, including the power to regulate the value of money. Moreover, Congress was empowered with express authority to make all laws that were necessary and proper for exercising the other enumerated powers.