Thomas Cusack Co. v. City of Chicago, 242 U.S. 526 (1917)
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Thomas Cusack Co. v. City of Chicago
No. 126
Argued December 20, 21, 1916
Decided January 15, 1917
242 U.S. 526
ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
Syllabus
The Fifth Amendment relates to national action only.
A city ordinance which has been upheld by the highest court of the state as valid under the state legislation is to be regarded by this Court as a law of the state, and is to be tested accordingly.
Such an ordinance, when dealing with a subject within the police power, must be upheld unless shown to be clearly unreasonable, arbitrary or discriminatory.
A city, exercising the police power, may prohibit the erection of billboards in residence districts in the interest of the safety, morality, health, and decency of the community.
Such a prohibition is not to be deemed unduly discriminatory because not including fences and other structures found less likely to become a source of public injury.
An ordinance prohibiting billboards is not invalidated by a provision which removes the prohibition as to any billboard the erection of which is first consented to by the owners of a majority of the frontage on both sides of the street in the block in which it is to be erected. Eubank v. Richmond, 226 U.S. 137, distinguished.
He who is not injured by the operation of a law or ordinance cannot be said to be deprived by it of either constitutional right or of property.
267 Ill. 344 affirmed.
The case is stated in the opinion.