Corporate Regulation in the Mountain South State ex rel. Missouri & Mississippi River Railroad Co. v. Macon County Court – Missouri, 1867 (41 Mo. 453); Shelby County Court v. Cumberland & Ohio Railroad Co. – Kentucky, 1871 (71 Ky. 209); Mercer County Court v. Kentucky River Navigation Co. – Kentucky, 1871 (71 Ky. 300); Osage Valley & Southern Kansas Railroad Co. v. County Court of Morgan County – Missouri, 1873 (54 Mo. 156); Knoxville & Ohio Railroad Co. v. Hicks – Tennessee, 1877 (68 Tenn. 442)
“It is difficult to perceive how [local railroad aid] can be [a public purpose] with reference to the establishment of an ordinary private corporation, however great may be its influence for enhancing the property of the wealthy, or stimulating or promoting any particular private business or pursuit.” - Justice Mordecai Hardin (dissenting), in Mercer County
| ![]() Anheuser-Busch Brewery, St. Louis, Missouri - courtesy American Historic Buildings Survey and Wikimedia Commons “Whatever doubts may have existed, or might now be entertained, as to the constitutional validity of … municipal subscriptions for stock in railroads affording peculiar local benefits … such subscriptions …. may now be regarded as of unquestionable constitutionality, in view of the numerous and uniform decisions of this court sustaining them.” - Justice __, in Shelby County |
EMPIRE OF LAWS - The Legal History of the 50 American States > 4. MOUNTAIN SOUTH LEGAL HISTORY > 4.3 Mountain South: Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877) > 4.3.1 Mountain South (1861-1877): Law and War > 4.3.2 Mountain South (1861-1877): The Restoration and Reconstruction Eras > 4.3.3 Mountain South (1861-1877): Coming to Grips With Emancipation > 4.3.4 Mountain South (1861-1877): Cleaning Up After the Confederacy >