corporations are people Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific R. Co. - 118 U.S. 394 (1886) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific R. Co. - 118 U.S. 394 (1886) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center

click link

snip from wiki==other source

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 26–29, 1886 Decided May 10, 1886
Full case name	Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company
Citations	118 U.S. 394 (more) 6 S. Ct. 1132, 30 L. Ed. 118
Prior history	Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of California
Holding
The railroad corporations are persons with the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Court membership
Chief Justice Morrison Waite Associate Justices Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field Joseph P. Bradley · John M. Harlan William B. Woods · T. Stanley Matthews Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford
Case opinions
Majority	Harlan, joined by unanimous court
Laws applied
14 Stat. 292, §§ 1, 2, 3, 11, 18 (an Act of 1866 giving special privileges to the Atlantic and Pacific Railway Corporation)

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886) was a matter brought before the United States Supreme Court - but not decided by the court - which dealt with taxation of railroad properties. A report issued by the Court Reporter claimed to state the sense of the Court - without a decision or written opinions published by or of the Court. This was the first time that the Supreme Court was reported to hold that the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause granted constitutional protections to corporations as well as to natural persons, although numerous other cases, since Dartmouth College v. Woodward in 1819, have recognized that corporations were entitled to some of the protections of the Constitution. In the opinion, the Court consolidated three separate cases:

• Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company
• California v. Central Pacific Railroad Company
• California v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company