Privilege and Creative Destruction: The Charles River Bridge Case

by Stanley I. Kutler

Book Overview

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 rules 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801839831
• ISBN13: 9780801839832
• Release Date: December 1989
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating look at the origin of corporate law

Kutler's book provides a very interesting look at the Charles River Bridge case, a monumental period in American Law that at once signaled the development of modern corporate law and showed the beginnings of modernity in American jurisprudence. Kutler takes a thorough look at not only the legal but also the social aspects of the case, without being overly dry or scholarly.