Automate legal research, eDiscovery, and precedent analysis - Let our AI Legal Assistant handle the complexity. (Get started now)

What was the legal case of Stone v. Mississippi about?

The case was decided by the U.S.

Supreme Court in 1879, over 140 years ago.

It involved a challenge to Mississippi's constitutional prohibition on the sale of lottery tickets, which had been granted a 25-year charter in 1867.

The Court unanimously upheld Mississippi's right to prohibit lotteries, ruling that the state's police power allowed it to regulate activities deemed harmful to the public welfare.

This decision affirmed the principle that states have broad authority to regulate economic and commercial activities within their borders.

The Court stated that no legislation could "bargain away the public health and morals" by granting perpetual lottery charters.

Chief Justice Morrison Waite, writing for the Court, viewed lotteries as a "vice" that the state had the power to suppress.

The case predated the modern incorporation of the Bill of Rights against the states, so the Court did not consider any federal constitutional rights.

It built on earlier decisions like Munn v.

Illinois that established the state's "police power" to regulate private businesses for the public good.

The decision was unanimous, with no dissenting opinions, suggesting strong agreement among the Justices.

It remains an important precedent for state regulatory power, even as the Court's jurisprudence on economic rights has evolved.

The case highlights how the 19th century Supreme Court grappled with the tension between private contract rights and state police powers.

Stone v.

Mississippi was decided just four years after the court's landmark decision in Munn v.

Illinois, which also involved a state's regulatory authority.

Automate legal research, eDiscovery, and precedent analysis - Let our AI Legal Assistant handle the complexity. (Get started now)