Court : US Supreme Court
Town of Pawlet v. Clark - 13 U.S. 292 (1815) U.S. Supreme Court Town of Pawlet v. Clark, 13 U.S. 9 Cranch 292 292 (1815) Town of Pawlet v. Clark 13 U.S. (9 Cranch) 292 ON CERTIFICATE OF DIVISION OF OPINION AMONG THE JUDGES OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Syllabus This Court has jurisdiction, where one party claims land under a grant from the State of New Hampshire and the other under a grant from the State of Vermont, although at the time of the first grant Vermont was a part of New Hampshire. A grant of a tract of land in equal shares to sixty-three persons, to be divided amongst them into sixty-eight equal shares, with a specific appropriation of five shares, conveys only a sixty-eighth part to each person. If one of the shares be declared to be "for a glebe for the Church of England as by law established," that share is not holden in trust by the grantees, nor is it a condition annexed to their rights or shares. The Church of England is not a body corpora...
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The Mary - 13 U.S. 126 (1815) U.S. Supreme Court The Mary, 13 U.S. 9 Cranch 126 126 (1815) The Mary 13 U.S. (9 Cranch) 126 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND Syllabus The condemnation of a vessel as enemy's property for want of a claim cannot prejudice the claim for her cargo, but it is still competent for the claimant of the cargo to controvert the fact that the vessel was enemy's property so far as that fact could prejudice his claim. One claimant cannot be injured by the contumacy of another. The holder of a bottomry bond cannot claim in a court of prize. An American vessel sailing from England in August, 1812, in consequence of the repeal of the British orders in council, and compelled by dangers of the seas to put into Ireland, where she was necessarily detained until April, 1813, when she sailed again for the United States under the protection of a British license, being captured on the voyage by an American privateer, was protected by the P...
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Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge - 36 U.S. 420 (1837) U.S. Supreme Court Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, 36 U.S. 11 Pet. 420 420 (1837) Proprietors of Charles River Bridge v. Proprietors of Warren Bridge 36 U.S. (11 Pet.) 420 ERROR TO THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS Syllabus In 1650, the Legislature of Massachusetts granted to Harvard College the liberty and power to dispose of a ferry by lease or otherwise from Charlestown to Boston, passing over Charles River. The right to set up a ferry between these places had been given by the governor under the authority of the Court of Assistance, by an order dated November 9, 1636, to a particular individual, and was afterwards leased successively to others, they having the privilege of taking tolls regulated in the grant; and when, in 1650, the franchise of this ferry was granted to the college, the rights of the lessees in the same had expired. Under the grant, the college continued to hold the ferry by its le...
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Decatur v. Paulding - 39 U.S. 497 (1840) U.S. Supreme Court Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. 14 Pet. 497 497 (1840) Decatur v. Paulding 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE COUNTY OF WASHINGTON, IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Syllabus On 3 March, 1837, Congress passed an act giving to the widow of any officer who had died in the naval service of the United States authority to receive, out of the navy pension fund, half the monthly pay to which the deceased officer would have been entitled under the acts regulating the pay in the navy in force on 1 January, 1835. On the same day, a resolution was adopted by Congress giving to Mrs. Decatur widow of Captain Stephen Decatur, a pension for five years out of the navy pension fund, and in conformity with the act of 30 June, 1834, and the arrearages of the half-pay of a post captain, from the death of Commodore Decatur to the 30 June, 1834, the arrearages to be vested in trust for her by the Secretary...
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Prigg v. Pennsylvania - 41 U.S. 539 (1842) U.S. Supreme Court Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 16 Pet. 539 539 (1842) Prigg v. Pennsylvania 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Syllabus A writ of error to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, brought under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, to revise the judgment of that Court on a case involving the construction of the Constitution and laws of the United States. Edward Prigg, a citizen of the State of Maryland, was indicted for kidnapping in the Court of Oyer and Terminer of York County, Pennsylvania, for having forcibly taken and carried away from that county to the State of Maryland a negro woman named Margaret Morgan with the design and intention of her being held, sold, and disposed of as a slave for life, contrary to a statute of Pennsylvania passed on the twenty-sixth day of March, 1826. Edward Prigg pleaded not guilty, and the jury found a special verdict on which judgment was...
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Oliver v. Piatt - 44 U.S. 333 (1845) U.S. Supreme Court Oliver v. Piatt, 44 U.S. 333 (1845) Oliver v. Piatt 44 U.S. 333 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF OHIO Syllabus In cases of trust, where the trustee has violated his trust by an illegal conversion of the trust property, the cestui que trust has a right to follow the property into whosesoever hands he may find it, not being a bona fide purchaser for a valuable consideration, without notice. Where a trustee has, in violation of his trust, invested the trust property or its proceeds in any other property, the cestui que trust has his option either to hold the substituted property liable to the original trust, or to hold the trustee himself personally liable for the breach of the trust. The option, however, belongs to the cestui que trust alone and is for his benefit, and not for the benefit of the trustee. If the trustee, after such an unlawful conversion of the trust property,...
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Miller v. Herbert - 46 U.S. 72 (1847) U.S. Supreme Court Miller v. Herbert, 46 U.S. 5 How. 72 72 (1847) Miller v. Herbert 46 U.S. (5 How.) 72 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Syllabus Under a statute of Maryland passed in 1796, a deed of manumission is not good unless recorded within six months after its date, and this law is in force in Washington county, District of Columbia. The statutes and decisions of Maryland examined. The defendants in error filed their petition in the circuit court, by which they claimed a right to their freedom, under a deed of manumission executed to them on 28 February, 1842, by their owner, George Miller, who was an inhabitant of Washington County, at the date of the deed, and at the time of his death, and on whose estate the plaintiff in error had taken administration. The petition, setting out the character of the claim of the defendants in error, was in the following words. "To the Honorable, Judges of the Circuit Cou...
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Miner's Bank of Dubuque v. Iowa - 53 U.S. 1 (1851) U.S. Supreme Court Miner's Bank of Dubuque v. Iowa, 53 U.S. 12 How. 1 1 (1851) Miner's Bank of Dubuque v. Iowa 53 U.S. (12 How.) 1 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT FOR THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF IOWA Syllabus Where a bank was chartered and its charter repealed by the legislature of a territory, the question of the validity of the repealing act cannot be brought before this Court under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act. The power of review is confined by that section to certain laws passed by states, and does not extend to those passed by territorial legislatures. At the November term, 1845, of the District Court of Dubuque County, in the Territory of Iowa, the district Attorney of the United States filed the following information: "James Grant, District Prosecutor of the third Judicial District, who prosecutes for the United States, on leave granted, comes into said District Court of Dubuque County, ...
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Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company v. Derby - 55 U.S. 468 (1852) U.S. Supreme Court Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company v. Derby, 55 U.S. 14 How. 468 468 (1852) Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company v. Derby 55 U.S. (14 How.) 468 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA Syllabus Where a suit was brought against a railroad company by a person who was injured by a collision, it was correct in the court to instruct the jury that if the plaintiff was lawfully on the road, at the time of the collision, and the collision and consequent injury to him were caused by the gross negligence of one of the servants of the defendants, then and there employed on the road, he was entitled to recover notwithstanding the circumstances that the plaintiff was a stockholder in the company, riding by invitation of the President, paying no fare, and not in the usual passenger cars. And also that the fact that the engineer having ...
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United States v. Workman - 68 U.S. 745 (1863) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Workman, 68 U.S. 1 Wall. 745 745 (1863) United States v. Workman 68 U.S. (1 Wall.) 745 APPEAL BY THE UNITED STATES FROM A DECREE OF THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Syllabus The Governor of California had no power, on the 8th June, 1846, either under the colonization law of August 18, 1824, and the regulations of November 21, 1828, nor yet under the dispatch of March 10, 1846, from Tornel, Minister of War, nor under the proclamation of Mariano Paredes y Arrilaga, President ad interim of the Mexican Republic, dated March 13, 1846 -- these two last made in anticipation of the invasion of California by the forces of the United States -- nor under any other authority, to make a valid sale and grant of the mission of San Gabriel in California. Appeal by the United States from a decree of the District Court for the Southern District of California confirming a decision of th...
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