The Washington legislature at its regular 1933 session enacted a series of statutes radically altering the system of public utility regulation in this state both in scope and method. Recent years have witnessed similar developments in several other states. As is always the case with novel legislation, a number of questions of statutory construction and of constitutional law have arisen. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss one of the basic constitutional problems presented by the Washington legislation. Can preliminary, fact-finding orders of a public service commission which have been affirmed by the state courts be made conclusive as to such facts in subsequent litigation
