End date 1877 | ||
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Full case name Munn v. State of Illinois Citations 94 U.S. 113 (more)
24 L. Ed. 77; 1876 U.S. LEXIS 1842; 4 Otto 113 Majority Waite, joined by Clifford, Swayne, Miller, Davis, Bradley, Hunt Dissent Field, joined by Strong Ruling court Supreme Court of the United States Similar Wabash - St Louis & Pacific R, United States v E C Knight, Lochner v New York, Muller v Oregon, Plessy v Ferguson | ||
Munn v illinois granger cases 1877
Munn v. Illinois, 94 U.S. 113 (1877), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the power of government to regulate private industries.
Contents
Munn v illinois summary
Facts
The case was developed because in 1871, the legislature of Illinois responded to pressure from the National Grange, an association of farmers, by setting maximum rates that private companies could charge for the storage and transport of agricultural products. The Chicago grain warehouse firm of Munn and Scott was found guilty of violating the law but appealed the conviction on the grounds that the law was an unconstitutional deprivation of property without due process of law that violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
Judgment
The Supreme Court decided the appeal in 1877. Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite spoke for the majority, which affirmed the constitutionality of state regulation extending to private industries that affect public interests. Because grain storage facilities were devoted to public use, their rates were subject to public regulation.
Moreover, Waite declared that even if Congress alone is granted control over interstate commerce, a state could take action in the public interest without impairing that federal control.
The decision was reversed in Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois.