Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Co.
Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Company is a landmark American civil case that won Abraham Lincoln fame as a lawyer.Case
America's expansion west, which Lincoln strongly supported, was seen as an economic threat to the river trade, which ran north-to-south, primarily on the Mississippi river. In 1856, a steamboat collided with a bridge, built by the Rock Island Railroad, between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, the first railroad bridge to span the Mississippi. The steamboat owner sued for damages and claimed the bridge was a hazard to navigation.
Lincoln argued in court for the railroad, in a jury trial before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The trial was presided over by Supreme Court justice John McLean. The jury deadlocked at 9 to 3 in the railroad's favor. Although the case did not reach a final judgment, observers considered the outcome a surprising victory for the railroad. Lincoln's role in the case helped solidify his reputation as a skilled trial attorney.
The legal issues around the Rock Island Bridge were not fully resolved until the United States Supreme Court ruled on a different case, Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company v. Ward, in 1863. By recognizing the railroad's right to place a bridge across the waterway, the resolution of the matter in the railroad's favor removed a costly impediment to railroad expansion west of the Mississippi.
