Snell v. City of Chicago

The Case

This was a suit brought in a state court by Henrietta Snell and Albert J. Stone, administrators of the estate of Amos J. Snell, deceased, and others, to enjoin the city of Chicago and the commissioner of the department of public works thereof from removing a tollgate or interfering with plaintiffs' collection of tolls thereat. The court dismissed the bill, and, plaintiffs having appealed to the supreme court of the state, the decree was there affirmed. They then sued out this writ of error to the United States Supreme Court.

Statement of Facts

The Ruling

A Life Estate — Not Perpetual Property

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the authority granted by the state to the old company was held by Snell as a life estate. The right to collect tolls could not be passed along forever to Snell's descendants despite what the sales agreement said. The continued authority to charge tolls was contrary to public policy and the "free and untrammeled use [of roads] belongs to the public."

The U.S. Supreme Court, in its opinion by Justice Brewer, found no federal question at issue. The Court admitted that Snell might have secured the right to collect tolls perpetually if he had incorporated his business under the law. Failing to do that, he had nothing to pass on after his lifetime.

From the Opinion of the Court

"If it be true, as decided by the supreme court, that only a life estate passed to Snell, then the plaintiffs have no interest in the franchises, and the demurrer to the bill was properly sustained."

— Mr. Justice Brewer, 152 U.S. 191 (1894)

"Milwaukee Avenue has been a 'free and untrammeled' road ever since."

— Illinois Supreme Court, 1890 · Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court, 1894

Primary Source

Findlaw — U.S. Supreme Court, Snell v. City of Chicago, 152 U.S. 191 (1894). caselaw.findlaw.com