Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, U.S. Supreme Court decision (1837) holding that rights not specifically conferred by a charter cannot be inferred from the language of the document. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney rejected the claim of a bridge company (Charles River) that the state legislature’s subsequent grant of a charter to another bridge company (Warren) impaired the charter to the first company. His opinion in this case represented a departure from the Supreme Court’s construction of the U.S. Constitution’s contract clause under John Marshall.