In the 1903 case of People's Gas Light and Coke Company v. Chicago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the City of Chicago, upholding its right to regulate gas prices within city limits. The People's Gas Light and Coke Company had challenged a municipal ordinance that set maximum rates for gas at $0.75 per thousand cubic feet, arguing it was an unconstitutional deprivation of property without due process under the Fourteenth Amendment because it did not allow them to make a fair return on their investment. However, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., writing for a unanimous court, rejected this argument stating that price regulation does not constitute confiscation if it allows companies to operate profitably while protecting consumers from excessive charges.

In the dissenting opinion for People's Gas Light and Coke Company v. Chicago, it was argued that the city of Chicago had no right to regulate gas prices as this would interfere with private contracts between consumers and a privately-owned utility company. The justice disagreed with the majority view that public utilities were subject to government regulation due to their nature as monopolies serving essential needs. He believed that such interference violated property rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, which prohibits states from depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. This interpretation suggested an expansive understanding of economic liberties under constitutional protection against state intervention in private contractual relationships.