Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge
Case Date: 04/23/2024
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Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, 36 U.S. 420 (1837)[2], was a case regarding the Charles River Bridge and the Warren Bridge of Boston, Massachusetts, heard by the United States Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. The case settled a dispute over the constitutional clause regarding obligation of contract.
In 1785, the Charles River Bridge Company had been granted a charter to construct a bridge over the Charles River connecting Boston and Cambridge. When the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sanctioned another company to build the Warren Bridge, chartered 1828, that would be very close in proximity to the first bridge and would connect the same two cities, the proprietors of the Charles River Bridge claimed that the Massachusetts legislature had broken its contract with the Charles River Bridge Company, and thus the contract had been violated. The owners of the first bridge claimed that the charter had implied exclusive rights to the Charles River Bridge Company. The Court ultimately sided with Warren Bridge. This decision was received with mixed opinions, and had some impact on the remainder of Taney's tenure as Chief Justice.
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