Scott County MacAdamized Road Co. v. Missouri Ex Rel. Hines

Background

A private road company was created by a special Missouri charter in 1853 that authorized the company to build and operate a toll road. Section 8 of that charter said the privileges granted would continue for fifty years, and allowed county courts to purchase the road at actual construction cost after twenty years or later. The State sued under a statute to stop the company from keeping toll gates on a road the State said was a public highway. A trial court and the Missouri Supreme Court ruled for the State, and the road company appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reasoning

The key question was whether the charter's "privileges" included the right to collect tolls and whether that right lasted beyond fifty years unless the counties paid the construction cost. The Court read the charter plainly and concluded that "privileges" meant all the privileges granted, including toll-taking. The Court rejected the company's narrower reading that limited "privileges" to only a higher toll rate compared with a separate general law. It said the purchase language in the same section was a reservation for the counties and did not erase the clear fifty-year limit. The Court also said the company never held a full property right in the road but at most an easement subject to the public's right after the charter term, and therefore constitutional objections were unnecessary to resolve.

Real world impact

The practical effect is that the company's authority to collect tolls ended at the fifty-year mark, and the public or county governments obtain an unencumbered right in the road unless the counties exercise the earlier purchase option. The decision affirms the Missouri courts' judgment and rejects the company's claim that the State could not impair a perpetual property right in tolls. That outcome means toll gates can be removed and the road made free under the charter's terms.