> In antebellum America, however, the justification for state
>regulation was based on different theories: regulation was tied to the
>public interest conceived as a type of property.

>This theory -- known as
>the "state ownership doctrine" -- was endorsed by the Supreme Court in
>an 1896 decision, Geer v. Connecticut, 161 U.S. 519 (1896).

I'm a little confused by this. Antebellum America was that before
the Civil War - do you mean that this doctrine was in place before
the conflict (which I would interpret to mean from soon after the
ratification of the Constitution), but only reached the Court
in 1896? Or did you mean that it grew after the war, and reached
the Court in a relatively rapid two or three decades?

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
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