Loading
  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

List Of United States Supreme Court Cases, Volume 87

This is a list of cases reported in volume 87 (20 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1874 and 1875.

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").

John William Wallace

Starting with the 66th volume of U.S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was John William Wallace. Wallace was Reporter of Decisions from 1863 to 1874, covering volumes 68 through 90 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 23 of his Wallace's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, Rubber-Tip Pencil Co. v. Howard is 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) 498 (1874).

Wallace's Reports were the final nominative reports for the US Supreme Court; starting with volume 91, cases were identified simply as "(volume #) U.S. (page #) (year)".

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 87 U.S. (20 Wall.)

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 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

Portrait Justice Office Home State Succeeded Date confirmed by the Senate
(Vote)
Tenure on Supreme Court
Morrison Waite Chief Justice Ohio Salmon P. Chase January 21, 1874
(63–0)
March 4, 1874

March 23, 1888
(Died)
Nathan Clifford Associate Justice Maine Benjamin Robbins Curtis January 12, 1858
(26–23)
January 21, 1858

July 25, 1881
(Died)
Noah Haynes Swayne Associate Justice Ohio John McLean January 24, 1862
(38–1)
January 27, 1862

January 24, 1881
(Retired)
Samuel Freeman Miller Associate Justice Iowa Peter Vivian Daniel July 16, 1862
(Acclamation)
July 21, 1862

October 13, 1890
(Died)
David Davis Associate Justice Illinois John Archibald Campbell December 8, 1862
(Acclamation)
December 10, 1862

March 4, 1877
(Resigned)
Stephen Johnson Field Associate Justice California newly created seat March 10, 1863
(Acclamation)
May 10, 1863

December 1, 1897
(Retired)
William Strong Associate Justice Pennsylvania Robert Cooper Grier February 18, 1870
(No vote recorded)
March 14, 1870

December 14, 1880
(Retired)
Joseph P. Bradley Associate Justice New Jersey newly created seat March 21, 1870
(46–9)
March 23, 1870

January 22, 1892
(Died)
Ward Hunt Associate Justice New York Samuel Nelson December 11, 1872
(Acclamation)
January 9, 1873

January 27, 1882
(Retired)

Notable Case in 87 U.S. (20 Wall.)

Murdock v. City of Memphis

The Supreme Court in Murdock v. City of Memphis, 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) 590 (1875), established the principle that interpretation of state law is the province of state courts, and that the state supreme courts, rather than the federal courts, have final jurisdiction in this area.

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 87 U.S. (20 Wall.)

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition
Habich v. Folger 1 (1874) Hunt none none Mass. affirmed
Creighton v. Kerr 8 (1874) Hunt none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Colo. affirmed
McQuiddy v. Ware 14 (1874) Davis none none C.C.E.D. Mo. affirmed
Humaston v. American Telegraph Company 20 (1874) Davis none none C.C.S.D.N.Y. affirmed
Kehr v. Smith 31 (1874) Davis none none C.C.E.D. Mo. affirmed
Pacific Railroad Company v. Maguire 36 (1874) Hunt Waite Clifford Mo. reversed
North Missouri Railroad Company v. Maguire 46 (1874) Clifford none none Mo. affirmed
Oregon Steam Navigation Company v. Winsor 64 (1874) Bradley none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Wash. reversed
National Bank v. Texas 72 (1874) Miller Swayne none Sup. Ct. D.C. reversed
Confiscation Cases 92 (1874) Strong none Clifford; Field C.C.D. La. reversed
Claims of Marcuard 114 (1874) Strong none none C.C.D. La. affirmed
Conrad's Lots 115 (1874) Strong none none C.C.D. La. reversed
Knapp v. Bennington and Rutland Railroad Company 117 (1874) Davis none none C.C.D. Vt. reversed
Burton v. Driggs 125 (1874) Swayne none none C.C.D. Vt. affirmed
Tioga Railroad v. Blossburg and Corning Railroad 137 (1874) Bradley Hunt Miller C.C.N.D.N.Y. affirmed
Simpson v. Greeley 152 (1874) Clifford none none Kan. dismissed
Merchants' Mutual Insurance Company v. Baring Brothers and Company 159 (1874) Clifford none none C.C.D. La. affirmed
Roach v. Summers 165 (1874) Strong none none C.C.S.D. Miss. affirmed
Bank v. Cooper 171 (1874) Strong none none C.C.N.D.N.Y. affirmed
Twenty Per Cent Cases 179 (1874) Clifford none Swayne Ct. Cl. multiple
Pahlman v. Raster 189 (1874) Strong none none C.C.N.D. Ill. affirmed
The Lottawanna 201 (1874) Clifford none none C.C.D. La. reversed
Cornett v. Williams 226 (1874) Swayne none none C.C.W.D. Tex. affirmed
United States v. Herron 251 (1874) Clifford none none C.C.D. La. reversed
McPhaul v. Lapsley 264 (1874) Swayne none none C.C.W.D. Tex. affirmed
City of Memphis v. Brown 289 (1874) Hunt Field; Bradley none C.C.W.D. Tenn. reversed
Stockdale v. Atlantic Insurance Company 323 (1874) Miller none Strong C.C.D. La. reversed
Washing Machine Company v. Providence Tool Company 342 (1874) Strong none none C.C.D.R.I. affirmed
Hailes v. Van Wormer 353 (1874) Strong none none C.C.N.D.N.Y. affirmed
Ferris v. Higley 375 (1874) Miller none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Utah affirmed
The Steamboat Wheeler 385 (1874) Waite none none C.C.D. Mass. affirmed
City of New Orleans v. Steamship Company 387 (1874) Swayne Hunt Field C.C.D. La. affirmed
Lyon v. Pollard 403 (1874) Miller none none Sup. Ct. D.C. reversed
Avery v. Hackley 407 (1874) Davis none none C.C.W.D. Mich. affirmed
Mays v. Fritton 414 (1874) Hunt none none Pa. affirmed
The Belle of the Sea 421 (1874) Strong none none C.C.E.D. Pa. affirmed
The Montello 430 (1874) Davis none none C.C.E.D. Wis. reversed
Home Insurance Company v. Morse 445 (1874) Hunt none Waite Wis. reversed
Sprott v. United States 459 (1874) Miller Clifford; Davis Field Ct. Cl. affirmed
Titus v. United States 475 (1874) Waite none none C.C.S.D. Ga. affirmed
Boley v. Griswold 486 (1874) Waite none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Mont. affirmed
Hearne v. Marine Insurance Company 488 (1874) Swayne none none C.C.D. Mass. affirmed
Equitable Insurance Company v. Hearne 494 (1874) Swayne none none C.C.M.D. Mass. affirmed
Rubber-Tip Pencil Company v. Howard 498 (1874) Waite none none C.C.S.D.N.Y. affirmed
Atchison v. Peterson 507 (1874) Field none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Mont. affirmed
United States v. Gill 517 (1875) Waite none none Ct. Cl. reversed
Pollard v. Bailey 520 (1874) Waite none none M.D. Ala. reversed
Union Packet Company v. Clough 528 (1874) Strong none none C.C.E.D. Wis. reversed
United States Express Company v. Ware 543 (1875) Waite none none C.C.D. Neb. affirmed
Ambler v. Whipple 546 (1874) Miller none none Sup. Ct. D.C. reversed
Franklin Insurance Company v. Colt 560 (1875) Field none none C.C.D. Conn. affirmed
Gillette v. Bullard 571 (1874) Waite none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Mont. affirmed
Longstreth v. Pennock 575 (1875) Swayne none none C.C.D. Pa. affirmed
Cannon v. City of New Orleans 577 (1874) Miller none none La. reversed
Clark v. City of Iowa City 583 (1875) Field none Clifford C.C.D. Iowa affirmed
Murdock v. Memphis 590 (1875) Miller none Clifford; Bradley Tenn. affirmed
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. Maryland 643 (1875) Miller none none Md. dismissal denied
Mathews v. McStea 646 (1875) Miller none none N.Y. Ct. Com. Pl. dismissal denied
Cadle v. Baker 650 (1875) Waite none none M.D. Ala. reversed
Treat v. Jemison 652 (1875) Waite none none C.C.D. Cal. affirmed
Parcels v. Johnson 653 (1874) Waite none none Mo. dismissed
Citizens' Savings and Loan Association v. City of Topeka 655 (1875) Miller none Clifford C.C.D. Kan. affirmed
Basey v. Gallagher 670 (1875) Field none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Mont. affirmed

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. ^ Erwin Chemerinsky (2014). The Case Against the Supreme Court. Penguin Books. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-14-312800-7.