(Morrison Waite, author and Chief Justice, 7-2, 1877) Ira Munn owned a set of Chicago grain elevators and charged oppressively high fees for their use. In 1871, the Illinois legislature passed a law setting maximum rates for grain storage. On appeal to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the business claimed that the Illinois statute violated Fourteenth Amendment due process rights regarding private property. Chief Justice Waite's opinion upheld the Illinois law, and proclaimed that 'when private property is devoted to a public use, it is subject to public regulation.' The decision was a landmark in the history of government regulation of businesses, especially railroads.