Virginia v. West Virginia (1911)

Virginia v. West Virginia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 20, 23–26, 1911 Decided March 6, 1911
Full case name	Virginia v. West Virginia
Citations	220 U.S. 1 (more) 31 S. Ct. 330; 55 L. Ed. 353; 1911 U.S. LEXIS 1658
Holding
West Virginia was bound by its constitution to pay one-third of the outstanding debt of the state of Virginia as of January 1, 1861.
Court membership
Chief Justice Edward D. White Associate Justices John M. Harlan · Joseph McKenna Oliver W. Holmes Jr. · William R. Day Horace H. Lurton · Charles E. Hughes Willis Van Devanter · Joseph R. Lamar
Case opinion
Majority	Holmes, joined by unanimous

Virginia v. West Virginia, 220 U.S. 1 (1911), is a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the state of West Virginia was bound by its constitution to pay one-third of the outstanding debt of the commonwealth of Virginia as of January 1, 1861.^[1] In its ruling, the Supreme Court concluded that the geographic narrowness of the port and road improvements made by Virginia (most of which occurred outside West Virginia's current borders) were incurred by the people of the entire state and did not discharge West Virginia's duty to pay. The Court also held that Virginia's attempts to discharge its debts while its negotiations with West Virginia continued did not absolve West Virginia of its duty to pay. Although both states had already agreed on the amount to be paid, the Court ordered them to negotiate over interest computation.