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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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List Of United States Supreme Court Cases, Volume 52

This is a list of cases reported in volume 52 (11 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1850 and 1851.

Nominative reports

In 1874, the U.S. government created the United States Reports, and retroactively numbered older privately-published case reports as part of the new series. As a result, cases appearing in volumes 1–90 of U.S. Reports have dual citation forms; one for the volume number of U.S. Reports, and one for the volume number of the reports named for the relevant reporter of decisions (these are called "nominative reports").

Benjamin Chew Howard

Starting with the 42nd volume of U.S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was Benjamin Chew Howard. Howard was Reporter of Decisions from 1843 to 1860, covering volumes 42 through 65 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 24 of his Howard's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, United States v. City of Philadelphia is 52 U.S. (11 How.) 609 (1851).

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 52 U.S. (11 How.)

The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . .". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices). Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).

When the cases in 52 U.S. (11 How.) were decided the Court comprised these nine members:

Portrait Justice Office Home State Succeeded Date confirmed by the Senate
(Vote)
Tenure on Supreme Court
Roger B. Taney Chief Justice Maryland John Marshall March 15, 1836
(29–15)
March 28, 1836

October 12, 1864
(Died)
John McLean Associate Justice Ohio Robert Trimble March 7, 1829
(Acclamation)
January 11, 1830

April 4, 1861
(Died)
James Moore Wayne Associate Justice Georgia William Johnson January 9, 1835
(Acclamation)
January 14, 1835

July 5, 1867
(Died)
John Catron Associate Justice Tennessee newly created seat March 8, 1837
(28–15)
May 1, 1837

May 30, 1865
(Died)
John McKinley Associate Justice Alabama newly created seat September 25, 1837
(Acclamation)
January 9, 1838

July 19, 1852
(Died)
Peter Vivian Daniel Associate Justice Virginia Philip P. Barbour March 2, 1841
(25–5)
January 10, 1842

May 31, 1860
(Died)
Samuel Nelson Associate Justice New York Smith Thompson February 14, 1845
(Acclamation)
February 27, 1845

November 28, 1872
(Retired)
Levi Woodbury Associate Justice New Hampshire Joseph Story January 31, 1846
(Acclamation)
September 23, 1845

September 4, 1851
(Died)
Robert Cooper Grier Associate Justice Pennsylvania Henry Baldwin August 4, 1846
(Acclamation)
August 10, 1846

January 31, 1870
(Retired)

Notable case in 52 U.S. (11 How.)

The patented doorknob – from U.S. Pat. No. 2197

Hotchkiss v. Greenwood

Hotchkiss v. Greenwood, 52 U.S. (11 How.) 248 (1851), is a Supreme Court decision credited with introducing into United States patent law the concept of non-obviousness as a patentability requirement, as well as stating the applicable legal standard for determining its presence or absence in a claimed invention.

Citation style

Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i.e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.

Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.

List of cases in 52 U.S. (11 How.)

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower court Disposition of case
Gratz's Ex'rs v. Cohen 1 (1851) Woodbury none none C.C.E.D. Pa. reversed
United States v. Girault 22 (1851) Nelson none none N.D. Miss. dismissed
Oakey v. Bennett 33 (1851) McLean none none D. Tex. affirmed
United States v. Guillem 47 (1851) Taney none none C.C.D. La. affirmed
United States v. Boisdore 63 (1851) Catron none McLean, Wayne S.D. Miss. reversed
Blanc v. Lafayette 104 (1851) Wayne none none La. affirmed
Lecompte v. United States 115 (1851) Daniel none none D. La. affirmed
McCoy v. Rhodes 131 (1851) Catron none none C.C.D. La. reversed
McGill v. Armour 142 (1851) McLean none none C.C.D.C. affirmed
United States v. Morgan 154 (1851) Woodbury none none C.C.D. La. reversed
Gruner v. United States 163 (1851) Taney none none D. Tex. dismissed
D'Arcy v. Ketchum 165 (1851) Catron none none C.C.D. La. reversed
Hortsman v. Henshaw 177 (1851) Taney none none C.C.D. Mass. affirmed
League v. de Young 185 (1851) Grier none none Tex. affirmed
Bevins ex rel. Earle v. Ramsey 185 (1851) per curiam none none C.C.D.E. Tenn. dismissed
Brooks v. Norris 204 (1851) Taney none none La. dismissed
Warner v. Martin 209 (1851) Wayne none none C.C.E.D. Pa. affirmed
Cotton v. United States 229 (1851) Grier none none N.D. Fla. affirmed
Stockton v. Ford 232 (1851) Nelson none none C.C.D. La. affirmed
Hotchkiss v. Greenwood 248 (1851) Nelson none Woodbury C.C.D. Ohio affirmed
Reeside v. Walker 272 (1851) Woodbury none none C.C.D.C. affirmed
Florida v. Georgia 293 (1851) per curiam none none original subpoena issued
Phillips v. Preston 294 (1851) per curiam none none C.C.E.D. La. certification
Hogan v. Ross ex rel. Patterson 294 (1851) Taney none none N.D. Miss. supersedeas denied
Van Rensselaer v. Kearney 297 (1851) Nelson none none C.C.S.D.N.Y. affirmed
Weatherhead's Lessee v. Baskerville 329 (1851) Wayne none none C.C.M.D. Tenn. reversed
Parks v. Ross 362 (1851) Grier none none C.C.D.C. affirmed
Fowler v. Merrill 375 (1851) Woodbury none none C.C.D. Ark. affirmed
Clements v. Berry 398 (1851) McLean none Catron Tenn. reversed
Moore v. Brown 414 (1851) Wayne none Taney, Catron C.C.D. Ill. certification
Webster v. Reid 437 (1851) McLean none none Iowa reversed
van Buren v. Digges 461 (1851) Daniel none none C.C.D.C. reversed
Conrad v. Griffey 480 (1851) Woodbury none none C.C.D. La. reversed
Randon v. Toby 493 (1851) Grier none none D. Tex. affirmed
Spear v. Place 522 (1851) Woodbury none none D. Tex. dismissed
Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & B.B. Co. 528 (1851) per curiam none none original continued
Gill v. Oliver's Ex'rs 529 (1851) Grier Woodbury Taney Md. dismissed
United States v. Hughes 552 (1851) Catron none none C.C.D. La. reversed
United States v. Power's Heirs 570 (1851) Catron none none S.D. Miss. reversed
Larman v. Tisdale's Heirs 586 (1851) Taney none none not indicated dismissal denied
Hogg v. Emerson 587 (1850) Woodbury none Catron C.C.S.D.N.Y. affirmed
United States v. City of Philadelphia 609 (1851) Catron none McLean D. La. reversed
United States v. Turner 663 (1851) Taney none none D. La. reversed
Bennett v. Butterworth 669 (1851) Taney none none D. Tex. reversed

Notes and references

  1. ^ Anne Ashmore, DATES OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS AND ARGUMENTS, Library, Supreme Court of the United States, 26 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Supreme Court Research Guide". Georgetown Law Library. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  3. ^ See, e.g., Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 17 (1966) ("We conclude that the section [§ 103] was intended merely as a codification of judicial precedents embracing the Hotchkiss condition, with congressional directions that inquiries into the obviousness of the subject matter sought to be patented are a prerequisite to patentability."),

See also