Privilege and Creative Destruction

In this now-classic work in legal and constitutional theory, Stanley I. Kutler examines one of the Supreme Court's most celebrated decisions. In 1837, the Court ruled that the state of Massachusetts had the right to erect a free bridge over the Charles River even though it had previously chartered a privately owned toll bridge at the same location. The Court's decision fostered the idea of "creative destruction," a process that encourages new forms of property at the expense of older ones. Exploring the origins, context, and impact of this decision, Kutler integrates traditional American constitutional history with the "new legal history" that emphasizes the social and economic bases of legal change. Book jacket.

Stanley I. Kutler is the E. Gordon Fox Professor of American Institutions in the Department of History and the School of Law at the University of Wisconsin.