Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad Inc. v. City of Chicago (Bill of Rights Rail 10)

The Court found that the City's construction of the public street grade substantially diminished the railroad's property value and access without providing any compensation, thereby constituting a taking of property for public use. Because the City acted under state authority to accomplish a public purpose, the Court recognized this as precisely the type of governmental action the Just Compensation Clause was designed to prevent, uncompensated appropriation of private property, and held that this constitutional protection must apply equally to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court thus held the state liable to compensate the railroad, establishing that the Fifth Amendment's takings guarantee operates as an enforceable constraint on state action and cannot be circumvented by the state's own constitutional framework.