5. C.J.S. Commerce §§ 4, 11.]
cooley doctrine
Cooley doctrine. Constitutional law. The principle that Congress has exclusive power under the Commerce Clause to regulate the national as well as the local aspects of national commercial matters, and that the states may regulate those aspects of interstate commerce so local in character as to require diverse treatment. • The Supreme Court has abandoned the Cooley doctrine in favor of a balancing test for Commerce Clause cases. Cooley v. Port Bd. of Wardens, 53 U.S. (12 How.) 299 (1851). [Cases: Commerce 3, 13.