Joliet & Chicago Railroad v. Healy

This case has been elaborately argued in every phase it presents, but the view we have taken may be shortly stated. It is a bill filed by the owners of a lot abutting on what is called “ Healy slough,” and its object is to secure the removal of a permanent railroad bridge constructed by the Chicago and Alton Eailroad Company over the body of water bearing that name. The theory on which the bill is framed is, that the body of water spanned by the bridge is navigable, in the sense that term is used in the law when applied to streams with capacity to bear the usual products as well as the…