U.S. Supreme Court · 1894 · 152 U.S. 191

Snell Heirs v. Chicago — Federal Appeal

After losing in Illinois, the heirs took their case to Washington. The United States Supreme Court heard the argument and delivered its verdict: the toll rights were gone, and they were not coming back.

The Illinois Supreme Court’s 1890 ruling had been a blow, but the heirs were not finished. They retained counsel and appealed to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the Illinois decision had violated their constitutional property rights. The franchise had been purchased with real money. It had real value. To extinguish it without compensation, they argued, was an unconstitutional taking.

The U.S. Supreme Court was not persuaded. In 1894, the court issued its ruling in Snell v. Chicago, 152 U.S. 191, affirming the Illinois decision in full. A personal franchise — one granted by the state to a specific individual — is not a transferable property right. It cannot be inherited, sold, or assigned. When the person dies, the franchise dies with them.

"A personal franchise cannot be inherited. When the person dies, the franchise dies with them."

The ruling was final. There was no higher court to appeal to, no further argument to be made. The Northwestern Plank Road toll franchise — the asset that had made Amos Snell one of the wealthiest men in Chicago — was permanently extinguished. The heirs had spent four years and considerable legal fees fighting for it, and they had lost at every level.

The decision also set a legal precedent that would be cited in subsequent franchise cases across the country. In trying to hold onto their inheritance, the Snell heirs had inadvertently helped define the limits of franchise law in America.