Episode 3 of 3
Headnote Creation
- When
- May 26, 1886
- Where
- Correspondence between Reporter and Chief Justice
Reporter J.P. Davis added a headnote asserting corporate personhood, confirmed by Chief Justice Waite, influencing future legal interpretations.
Before publication, reporter J.P. Davis wrote to Chief Justice Morrison Waite on May 26, 1886, to confirm his headnote. The headnote stated that corporations are persons under the Fourteenth Amendment. Although not part of the actual decision, this headnote became influential in subsequent legal interpretations, affirming corporate protections.
Sources
- Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-30
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.