Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company

An 1886 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394, 6 S. Ct. 1132, 30 L. Ed. 118, is often cited for the principle that the term person as used in the EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT applies to corporations as well as to natural persons.

The Southern Pacific Railroad Company refused to pay a tax assessed by the California Board of Equalization upon its franchise, roadways, roadbeds, fences, and rolling stock. The county brought an action in state court against the railroad to recover the delinquent taxes. The railroad had the action removed to the federal district court. The court agreed with the defendant that the assessment of the tax was void because the board had no jurisdiction to act. It also ruled that the defendant had been denied equal protection of the...