Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation v. Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation was a case heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1883. The case involved a dispute between two railroad companies over the right to use a certain stretch of track. The Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation (N&L) had been granted a charter to build a railroad from Nashua, New Hampshire to Lowell, Massachusetts. The Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation (B&L) had been granted a charter to build a railroad from Boston to Lowell. The two companies had agreed to share the track between Nashua and Lowell, but the agreement was not legally binding. The dispute arose when N&L began to construct its railroad and B&L objected, claiming that it had exclusive rights to the track. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of N&L, finding that the agreement between the two companies was not legally binding and that N&L had the right to construct its railroad. The Court also held that B&L had no right to interfere with N&L’s construction. This decision established the principle that a company’s charter gives it exclusive rights to the track it is authorized to build, even if it has agreed to share the track with another company.

In the dissenting opinion of Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation v. Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation, Justice Field argued that the majority’s decision was wrongfully based on a misinterpretation of an 1887 act passed by Congress. He believed that this act did not grant exclusive rights to either railroad company, but instead allowed them both to use their respective tracks for transportation purposes. Furthermore, he argued that it would be unfair for one company to have exclusive control over its track while denying access to another party who had been using it since before the passage of said act in 1887. As such, Justice Field concluded his dissent by stating that no legal basis existed for granting exclusive rights over any part of a public highway or railway line without proper compensation being paid first.