Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway v. Illinois

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway v. Illinois, 118 U.S. 557 (1886), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Illinois attempted to regulate railroad rates for shipments traveling through the state. The Wabash Railway argued that state regulation of interstate shipments violated the Commerce Clause. The case challenged the principle established in Munn v. Illinois (1877) that states could regulate businesses affected with a public interest.

Significance

The Supreme Court struck down the Illinois law, holding that only Congress could regulate interstate commerce. While individual states could regulate commerce that was purely local, once goods entered the stream of interstate commerce, state regulation was impermissible. The decision created the ‘gap’ in railroad regulation that directly led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, marking the beginning of federal administrative regulation of the economy.

Category

US Federal Case Law