Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad: The Corporate Personhood Precedent That Never Was

| Importance: 10/10

In what would become one of the most consequential non-rulings in American legal history, a court reporter’s headnote to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad established the foundation for corporate personhood without the Supreme Court ever deciding the issue. Before oral arguments, …

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Morrison Waite J.C. Bancroft Davis (Court Reporter) Southern Pacific Railroad Santa Clara County +1 more corporate-personhood supreme-court fourteenth-amendment constitutional-law gilded-age +3 more
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