In Custiss v. The Georgetown and Alexandria Turnpike Company, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked to decide whether a turnpike company had the right to charge tolls on a road that ran through private property. The plaintiff argued that he owned part of the land over which the road passed, and thus should not be required to pay any tolls for using it. However, after considering both sides' arguments, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of the defendant turnpike company. He reasoned that since they had been granted an exclusive charter by Congress allowing them to build and maintain roads in exchange for collecting tolls from travelers who used them, they were legally entitled to do so regardless of ownership rights over any particular stretch of land along their route. This decision established an important precedent regarding public-private partnerships in transportation infrastructure projects throughout America's history.

Justice Bushrod Washington wrote the dissenting opinion in Custiss v. The Georgetown and Alexandria Turnpike Company, arguing that the Court should not have granted a writ of mandamus to compel payment of tolls on a turnpike road. He argued that it was up to Congress, not the courts, to decide whether or not such payments were necessary for public use. Furthermore, he noted that if Congress had intended for these roads to be used without paying any tolls whatsoever then they would have made this clear when passing legislation related to them. Finally, Justice Washington suggested that if there was an issue with how much money people were being charged for using these roads then it should be addressed by changing existing laws rather than through judicial action.