Adam S. Mills and Others, Plaintiffs in Error v. William G. Brown and Others

ERROR to the Supreme Court of the state of Illinois. The plaintiffs in error instituted a suit in the circuit court of the state of Illinois, claiming, by a bill filed in that court, to hold, under an act of the legislature of Illinois, an exclusive right to erect a ferry on the Mississippi river, from land owned by them, to the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The defendants in the suit denied the right thus set up, and claimed the right to set up another ferry, from Illinois to St. Louis, under other acts of the legislature of Illinois. The case was, after a decree of the circuit court in favor of the defendants, carried by the plaintiff by appeal to the supreme court of the state, where judgment in favor of the defendants was affirmed. The plaintiffs prosecuted this writ of error, on the ground, that the act of the legislature of Illinois, passed subsequent to the act which had authorized the plaintiffs to erect their ferry, was a violation of the contract made with the plaintiffs by the act of assembly. The decision of the supreme court of Illinois, which was in favor of the defendants, was given upon other questions presented in the case, besides those on the contract made by the first act of the assembly of Illinois. The counsel for the plaintiffs in error proposed to the court that a decision upon the whole merits of the case should be made, although it might be considered that the court had not jurisdiction of the case on the writ of error; the questions in the case being of great importance, and the parties being willing and desirous to have them decided by this court.