Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Co. v. Illinois, 175 U.S. 626 (1900)

Please note: this case begins in mid-page. It therefore shares a citation with the last page of the previous case. If you are attempting to follow a link to the last page of 175 U.S. 609, click here.

Keokuk and Hamilton Bridge Company v. Illinois

No. 26

Submitted November 15, 1899
Decided January 8, 1900
175 U.S. 626

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

Syllabus

The boundary line between the States of Illinois and Iowa is the middle of the main navigable channel of the Mississippi River, but whether, in assessing taxes in Illinois on a bridge running from one state to the other, in crossing that bridge, the dividing line was improperly located is a question of fact the finding of which by a state court is not reviewable here.

The same may be said concerning the contention as to whether the bridge was assessed at more than its value, and not at the same proportion of its value as other property was.

The tax on the capital stock was not a tax on franchises conferred by the federal government, but on those conferred by the state, and as such is not open to objection here.

The tax was not a tax on interstate commerce

As to the objection that the entire capital stock was assessed by the state board of equalization, it is enough to say that the question that the action of that board was in violation of the Constitution of the United States, except so far as it was claimed to be an interference with interstate commerce, was not raised, and therefore cannot be considered here for the first time.

No opinion is intimated on the contention that the judgment was erroneous because the assessment, in effect, included the entire capital stock of plaintiff in error as a consolidated corporation.

The case is stated in the opinion of the Court.