Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837) 36 U.S. 420, involved the right of the holder of the license or franchise against competition and wherein the Charles River Bridge Company held a franchise and operated a toll bridge in the state of Massachusetts, and the state thereafter granted another franchise by the terms of which a free bridge was authorized which virtually destroyed the business of the Charles River Bridge Company. The Supreme Court of the United States, in an opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Taney, says: "The relative position of the Warren bridge has already been described. It does not interrupt the passage over the Charles River bridge, nor make the way to it or from it less convenient. None of the faculties or franchises granted to that corporation have been revoked by the Legislature: and its right to take the tolls granted by the charter remains unaltered. In short, all of the franchises and rights of property enumerated in the charter and there mentioned to have been granted to it, remain unimpaired. But its income is destroyed by the Warren bridge, which, being free, draws off the passengers and property which would have gone over it, and renders their franchise of no value. This is the gist of the complaint. For it is not pretended that the erection of the Warren bridge would have done them any injury or in any degree affected their right of property if it had not diminished the amount of their tolls. In order, then, to entitle themselves to relief, it is necessary to show that the Legislature contracted not to do the act of which they complain; and that they impaired, or in other words, violated that contract by the erection of the Warren bridge." In Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, the doctrine announced was that government, possessing powers that affect the public interests, and having entered into a contract involving such interests, is not, by means merely of implications or presumptions, to be disarmed of powers necessary to accomplish the objects of its existence; that any ambiguity in the terms of such a contract "`must operate against the adventurers and in favor of the public, and the plaintiffs can claim nothing that is not clearly given by the act;'" that "it can never be assumed that the Government intended to diminish its power of accomplishing the end for which it was created;" and that those who insist that the Government has surrendered any of its powers or agreed that they may be diminished, must find clear warrant for such a contention before it can be heeded. "Grants of franchises and special privileges are always to be construed most strongly against the donee, and in favor of the public." Mr. Justice Story also said: "Whether the grant of a franchise is, or is not, on the whole, promotive of public interests, is a question of fact and judgment upon which different minds may entertain different opinions. It is not to be judicially assumed to be injurious, and then the grant to be reasoned down. It is a matter exclusively confided to the sober consideration of the legislature, which is invested with full discretion and possesses ample means to decide it. For myself, meaning to speak with all due deference for others, I know of no power or authority confided to the judicial department to rejudge the decisions of the legislature upon such a subject. It has an exclusive right to make the grant, and to decide whether it be, or be not, for the public interest. It is to be presumed, if the grant is made, that it is made from a high sense of public duty, to promote the public welfare, and to establish the public prosperity." Mr. Justice Story, in a dissenting opinion in Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, commented upon the fact that, in the United States, wherever an exclusive franchise is given, the first and immediate reaction is to look upon it as unconstitutional, saying (page 606): " There is great virtue in particular phrases; and when it is once suggested, that a grant is of the nature or tendency of a monopoly, the mind almost instantaneously prepares itself to reject every construction which does not pare it down to the narrowest limits. It is an honest prejudice, which grew up in former times from the gross abuses of the royal prerogatives, to which in America there are no analagous authorities." In Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, Martin, J., speaking of public grants, said: `Although no distinct thing or right will pass by implication, yet I do not mean to question that the words used should be construed in their most natural and obvious sense, and that whatever is essential to the enjoyment of the thing granted will be necessarily implied in the grant.' In the same case, Wilde, J., said that in doubtful cases it seemed to him `a sound and wholesome rule of construction to interpret public grants most favorably to the public interest, and that they are not to be enlarged by doubtful implication;' but he said: `There are some legislative grants no doubt that may admit a different rule of construction, such as grants of land on valuable consideration and the like. It is that, when the king's grants are upon a valuable consideration, they shall be construed favorably to the patentee for the honor of the king. ' In the same case in the United States Supreme Court, Taney, C.J., approved the general rule above referred to for the construction of public grants, and at page 549, speaking of the charter there under consideration, said: `In charters of this description no rights are taken from the public, or given to the corporation, beyond those which the words of the charter, by their natural and proper construction, purport to convey.