Mayfield–Newton Act

In United States federal law, the Mayfield–Newton Act, or the Mayfield Act,[2] was an act passed by the United States Congress on March 4, 1927,[3] amending the Interstate Commerce Act, the Esch–Cummins Act, and the Uniform Bill of Lading[4] to "authorize reduced freight rates in cases of emergency",[5] including earthquake, fire, flood, famine drought, epidemic, and pestilence.[6] Sponsored by Sen. Earle B. Mayfield (D) of Texas and Rep. Walter H. Newton (R) of Minnesota, the act changed the original maximum suspension, which had been fixed by the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, to 120 days, extendable by the Interstate Commerce Commission to 6 months – the Esch-Cummins Act reduced the extension period to 30 days while the Mayfield-Newton Act of 1927 replaced the provision with a single period of 7 months.

Mayfield–Newton Act

Other short titles	Mayfield Act Pub. L. 69-804 Ch. 510
Long title	An act to amend the Interstate Commerce Act and the Transportation Act, 1920, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 69th United States Congress
Codification
Acts amended	Interstate Commerce Act Esch–Cummins Act
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 3286 by Earle B. Mayfield, D–TX and Walter H. Newton, R–MN Signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on March 4, 1927[1]