Louis Brandeis

“ Article 15, entitled, 'The Corporation Commission,' consists of nineteen sections, [1] and confers broad powers of regulation. The character of the service, that is, whether it is public or private, and not the character of the ownership, determines ordinarily the scope of the power of regulation. The need of such regulation and the manner of exercising it are the same whether a public utility is incorporated or not; and the purpose of a public service commission could easily be frustrated if concerns owned by individuals were excluded from its operation. ”

“ Section 6 of article 15 authorizes the legislature to 'enlarge the powers and extend the duties of the Corporation Commission;' and the legislature, by defining 'water corporation' to include 'persons' owning a water utility, clearly extends the powers of the Commission to individually-owned concerns. So that, even if the Commission was not originally vested by the Constitution with power over utilities owned by individuals, it now has that power directly by legislative enactment. ”

“ If hereafter it shall appear that, under actual operation of the plant under these rates, the return allowed by such Corporation Commission operates as a confiscation of the property of complainant Ida A. Van Dyke, she may, at the expiration of one year, again present her evidence to the court and obtain appropriate relief on the facts then presented. ”