Merrimac Paper Co. v. City of Lawrence

INTRODUCTION

This case involves a venerable statute, dating from 1892, and its application against a modern backdrop. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the Massachusetts legislature authorized cities and towns to charge “just and equitable” rates for the use of the municipal sewers. M.G.L.c. 83, §16. Despite protests that the assessed rates constituted illegal taxes or deprivations of property, the Supreme Judicial Court and the United States Supreme Court upheld the statute. Carson v. Brockton, 175 Mass. 242, aff'd, 182 U.S. 398 (1900). It was a simpler time. Environmental regulation…