Cole v. City of La Grange

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cole v. La Grange
U.S. LEXIS
1645
Court membership
Chief Justice
Morrison Waite
Associate Justices
Stanley Matthews
Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford
Case opinion
MajorityGray, joined by unanimous

Cole v. City of La Grange, 113 U.S. 1 (1885), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court ruled on eminent domain to benefit a private corporation.

Background

The city of La Grange attempted to use eminent domain to condemn property for the benefit of La Grange Iron and Steel Company to expand that served no public benefit.

Decision

The Court held that the Missouri legislature could not authorize or any other city to issue bonds to assist corporations in their private business. The case was cited in the dissenting opinion of Justice Thomas in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005).

External links