Cotting v. Kansas City Stock Yards Co., 183 U.S. 79 (1901)

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, with whom concurred MR. JUSTICE GRAY, MR. JUSTICE BROWN, MR. JUSTICE SHIRAS, MR. JUSTICE WHITE and MR. JUSTICE McKENNA:

We assent to the judgment of reversal -- so far as the merits of this case are concerned -- upon the ground that the statute of Kansas in question is in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States in that it applies only to the Kansas City stockyards Company, and not to other companies or corporations engaged in like business in Kansas, and thereby denies to that company the equal protection of the laws. Upon the question whether the statute is unconstitutional upon the further ground that, by its necessary operation, it will deprive that company of its property without due process of law, we deem it unnecessary to express an opinion.