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Barron v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore

1. Barron v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, (1833)

2. Facts: Barron was a wharf owner. The city of Baltimore, in an effort to construct some streets, diverted part of the flow of some streams feeding the Baltimore harbor. This caused sandbars to form around Barron’s wharf, making it too shallow for most ships to do business there.

3. Procedural Posture: Barron sued the city for taking his property “for public use, without just compensation” under the 5th Amendment. The trial court awarded him damages, but the court of appeals reversed.

4. Issue: Whether the guarantee in the 5th Amendment that private property shall not be taken “for public use, without just compensation” is applicable to state governments as well as the federal government.

5. Holding: No.

6. Majority Reasoning: Marshall felt the answer was easy. The historical context of the framing of the constitution implied that the general guarantees in the Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government and not state governments. The purpose of the constitution was to ordain and establish a federal government, not state governments. Thus, any limitations on that power should be construed as applying to the federal government, since states have their own constitutions. The structure of the constitution shows that there was a plain line drawn between the powers and limitations of the federal and state governments, and so if the framers meant for these limitations to apply to states, they could have made such intent clear. The bill of rights itself was a guarantee against the encroachment of federal government. That is where the fear resided. There was no need for security against local governments, and so none was asked for.

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