United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Gardner v. Michigan, 199 U.S. 325 (1905)

Gardner v. Michigan

No. 62

Submitted November 9, 1905

Decided November 27, 1905

199 U.S. 325

Syllabus

Reduction Co. v. Sanitary Works, ante, p. 199 U. S. 306, followed as to the power of municipal authorities to make suitable regulations for the disposition of garbage, and that such regulations do not amount to a taking of private property for public use without compensation within the meaning of the federal Constitution.

Property rights of individuals must be subordinated to the general good, and if the owner of garbage suffers any loss by its destruction, he is compensated therefor in the common benefit secured by the regulation requiring all garbage to be destroyed.

Courts may take judicial notice of the effect of garbage on the public health.

The fact that a law relating to jury trials applicable to a particular county in a state is different from the general law on that subject applicable to all other counties is not necessarily a discrimination against the people

Page 199 U. S. 326

of the county affected and a denial of the equal protection of the law, and so held in this case, it appearing that every person within the county affected was accorded equal protection of the law prevailing there.

The facts are stated in the opinion.