''Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company'' (1857) is a landmark American civil case that won

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

fame as a lawyer.

Case

America's expansion west, which Lincoln strongly supported, was seen as an economic threat to the river trade, which ran north-to-south, primarily on the

Mississippi river The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. In 1856, a steamboat collided with the Rock Island bridge, built by the

Rock Island Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

, between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa.McGinty, Brian. Lincoln's Greatest Case: The River, the Bridge, and the Making of America. United States: Liveright, 2015. It was the first railroad bridge to span the Mississippi. The steamboat owner, Captain John Hurd, filed suit in the U.S. Circuit Court at Chicago for damages and claimed the bridge was a hazard to navigation. Lincoln was lead counsel in court for the railroad, in a

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significan ...

before the United States Circuit Court for Northern Illinois in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The trial was presided over by Supreme Court justice

John McLean John McLean (March 11, 1785 – April 4, 1861) was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice of the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts. He was often discussed for t ...

. The jury deadlocked at 9 to 3 in the railroad's favor. Although the case did not reach a final judgment, observers considered the outcome a surprising victory for the railroad. Lincoln's role in the case helped solidify his reputation as a skilled trial attorney. The legal issues around the Rock Island Bridge were not fully resolved until the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled on a different case, '' Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company v. Ward'', in 1863. By recognizing the railroad's right to place a bridge across the waterway, the resolution of the matter in the railroad's favor removed a costly impediment to railroad expansion west of the Mississippi.

References

External links

Illinois periodicals article
{{Abraham Lincoln 1857 in United States case law Law articles needing an infobox 1857 in Illinois Illinois state case law Abraham Lincoln Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Bridges in the Quad Cities