Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois
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| Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois | ||||||||||
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| Decided December 5, 1892 |
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| Holding | ||||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Melville Fuller Associate Justices: Stephen Johnson Field, John Marshall Harlan, Horace Gray, Samuel Blatchford, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, David Josiah Brewer, Henry Billings Brown, George Shiras, Jr. |
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| Case opinions | ||||||||||
| Majority by: Field Dissent by: Shiras, Gray, & Brown |
Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois, , was a United States Supreme Court decision.
A dispute over the title of lands occupied by the Illinois Central Railroad Company's tracks, stations, piers, & other constructions along the Chicago lake front. The railroad company held a title including the bed of Lake Michigan, however, the State argued that it held original ownership & control of that region.
Can the legislature deprive the State of its ownershp of the submerged lands in Chicago harbor and of the consequent control of its waters? Can the railroad hold the lands and control the waters by the grant against any future exercise of power over them by the State?
Public Land Doctrine - certain resources are preserved for public use and the government is required to maintain it for the public's reasonable use.
The legislature can not divest the State of the control and management of the harbor and vest it absolutely in a private corporation. This is a gross perversion of the trust over the property under which it is held.
