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Fanning v. Gregoire, 57 U.S. 16 How. 524 524 (1853)

Fanning v. Gregoire

57 U.S. (16 How.) 524

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF IOWA

In 1838, the Legislature of the Territory of Iowa authorized Fanning, his heirs and assigns, to establish and keep a ferry across the Mississippi River, at the Town of Dubuque, for the term of twenty years, and enacted further that no court or board of county commissioners should authorize any person to keep a ferry within the limits of the Town of Dubuque.

In 1840, Fanning was authorized to keep a horse ferry boat instead of a steamboat.

In 1847, the General Assembly of the State of Iowa passed an act to incorporate the City of Dubuque, the fifteenth section of which enacted that the "city council shall have power to license and establish ferries across the Mississippi River, from said city to the opposite shore, and to fix the rates of the same."