Court : US Supreme Court
Rhode Island v. Massachusetts - 37 U.S. 657 (1838) U.S. Supreme Court Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 37 U.S. 12 Pet. 657 657 (1838) Rhode Island v. Massachusetts 37 U.S. (12 Pet.) 657 ORIGINAL Syllabus The Supreme Court has jurisdiction of a bill filed by the State of Rhode Island against the State of Massachusetts to ascertain and establish the northern boundary between the states, that the rights of sovereignty and jurisdiction be restored and confirmed to the plaintiffs and they be quieted in the enjoyment thereof and their title, and for other and further relief. Jurisdiction is the power to hear and determine the subject matter in controversy between parties to a suit -- to adjudicate or exercise any judicial power over them. An objection to jurisdiction on the ground of exemption from the process of the court in which the suit is brought or the manner in which a defendant is brought into it is waived by appearance and pleading to issue, but when the objection goes to the...
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Armstrong v. Treasurer of Athens County, - 41 U.S. 281 (1842) U.S. Supreme Court Armstrong v. Treasurer of Athens County, , 41 U.S. 281 (1842) Armstrong v. Treasurer of Athens County 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 281 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OHIO Syllabus An act was passed by the legislature in 1840 by which certain lands held under conveyances from the President and Trustees of the Ohio University at Athens were directed to be assessed and taxed for county and state purposes. A bill was filed by the purchasers of the land against the tax collector praying that he should be perpetually enjoined from enforcing the payment of the taxes because the lands had been exempted by a statute of Ohio of 1804, which the bill alleged entered into the conditions of sale under which the complainants held the land. It was insisted that the act of 1840 violates the contract with the purchasers and is void, being contrary to the clause of the Constitution of the United States which prohib...
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Porterfield v. Clark - 43 U.S. 76 (1844) U.S. Supreme Court Porterfield v. Clark, 43 U.S. 76 (1844) Porterfield v. Clark 43 U.S. 76 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY Syllabus An Act of the Legislature of Virginia, passed in May, 1779, "establishing a land office and ascertaining the terms and manner of granting waste and unappropriated lands," contained, amongst other exceptions, the following, viz.: Page 43 U. S. 77 no entry or location of land shall be admitted within the country and limits of the Cherokee Indians. The tract of country lying on the west of the Tennessee River was not then the country of the Cherokee Indians, and, of course, not within the exception. A title may be tried in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee as effectually upon a caveat as in any other mode, and the parties, as also those claiming under them, are estopped by the decision. The boundaries of the Cherokees, as fixed by treaties, historically exa...
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License Cases - 46 U.S. 504 (1847) U.S. Supreme Court License Cases, 46 U.S. 5 How. 504 504 (1847) License Cases 46 U.S. (5 How.) 504 ERROR TO VARIOUS COURTS Syllabus Laws of Massachusetts, providing that no person shall presume to be a retailer or seller of wine, brandy, rum, or other spirituous liquors in a less quantity than twenty-eight gallons, and that delivered and carried away all at one time, unless he is first licensed as a retailer of wine and spirits, and that nothing in the law should be so construed as to require the county commissioners to grant any licenses when in their opinion the public good does not require them to be granted -- Of Rhode Island, forbidding the sale of rum, gin, brandy &c.;, in a less quantity than ten gallons, although in this case the brandy which was sold was duly imported from France into the United States, and purchased by the party indicted in the original importer -- Of New Hampshire, imposing similar restrictions to the foregoing up...
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Waring v. Clarke - 46 U.S. 441 (1847) U.S. Supreme Court Waring v. Clarke, 46 U.S. 5 How. 441 441 (1847) Waring v. Clarke 46 U.S. (5 How.) 441 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR EAST LOUISIANA Syllabus The grant in the Constitution extending the judicial power "to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction" is neither to be limited to nor to be interpreted by what were cases of admiralty jurisdiction in England when the Constitution was adopted by the states of the Union. Admiralty jurisdiction in the courts of the United States is not taken away because the courts of common law may have concurrent jurisdiction in a case with the admiralty. Nor is a trial by jury any test of admiralty jurisdiction. The subject matter of a contract or service gives jurisdiction in admiralty. Locality gives it in tort or collision. In cases of tort or collision happening upon the high seas or within the ebb and flow of the tide as far up a river as the tide ebbs and f...
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New Jersey Steam Navigation Co. v. Merchants' Bank - 47 U.S. 344 (1848) U.S. Supreme Court New Jersey Steam Navigation Co. v. Merchants' Bank, 47 U.S. 6 How. 344 344 (1848) New Jersey Steam Navigation Co. v. Merchants' Bank 47 U.S. (6 How.) 344 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND Syllabus A decree of the Circuit Court of Rhode Island affirmed which was a judgment upon a libel in personam against a steamboat company for the loss of specie carried in their boat by one of the persons called "express carriers," and lost by fire in Long Island Sound. In February, 1839, the State of New Jersey chartered a company by the name of the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of purchasing, building, repairing, and altering any vessel or vessels propelled by steam, and in the navigation of the same &c.; under which charter they became proprietors of the steamboat Lexington. O...
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Luther v. Borden - 48 U.S. 1 (1849) U.S. Supreme Court Luther v. Borden, 48 U.S. 7 How. 1 1 (1849) Luther v. Borden * 48 U.S. (7 How.) 1 Syllabus At the period of the American Revolution, Rhode Island did not, like the other States, adopt a new constitution, but continued the form of government established by the Charter of Charles the Second, making only such alterations, by acts of the Legislature, as were necessary to adapt it to their condition and rights as an independent State. But no mode of proceeding was pointed out by which amendments might be made. In 1841, a portion of the people held meetings and formed associations which resulted in the election of a convention to form a new constitution to be submitted to the people for their adoption or rejection. This convention framed a constitution, directed a vote to be taken upon it, declared afterwards that it had been adopted and ratified by a majority of the people of the State, and was the paramount law and constitut...
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Passenger Cases - 48 U.S. 283 (1849) U.S. Supreme Court Passenger Cases, 48 U.S. 7 How. 283 283 (1849) Passenger Cases 48 U.S. (7 How.) 283 ERROR TO THE COURT FOR THE TRIAL OF IMPEACHMENTS AND CORRECTION OF ERRORS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK AND THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS Syllabus Statutes of the states of New York and Massachusetts, imposing taxes upon alien passengers arriving in the ports of those states declared to be contrary to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and therefore null and void. Inasmuch as there was no opinion of the Court as a Court, the reporter refers the reader to the opinions of the judges for an explanation of the statutes and the points in which they conflicted with the Constitution and laws of the United States. These were kindred cases, and were argued together. They were both brought up to this Court by writs of error issued under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act, the case of Smith v. Turner being brought...
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Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company - 50 U.S. 647 (1850) U.S. Supreme Court Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company, 50 U.S. 9 How. 647 647 (1850) Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company 50 U.S. (9 How.) 647 ORIGINAL Syllabus In a cause depending in this Court in the exercise of original jurisdiction, wherein the State of Pennsylvania complained of the erection of a bridge across the Ohio River at Wheeling, the cause was referred to a commissioner for the purpose of taking further proof, with instructions to report to the Court by the first day of the next stated term. This case was transferred to this Court by an order of MR. JUSTICE GRIER, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, under the following circumstances. On 16 August, 1849, at the courtroom of the Circuit Court of the United States in the City of Philadelphia, before MR. JUSTICE GRIER, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. S...
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United States v. Dawson - 56 U.S. 467 (1853) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Dawson, 56 U.S. 15 How. 467 467 (1853) United States v. Dawson 56 U.S. (15 How.) 467 ON CERTIFICATE OF DIVISION OF OPINION BETWEEN THE JUDGES OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS Syllabus In June, 1844, Congress passed an act by virtue of which the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Arkansas was vested with power to try offenses committed within the Indian country. In July, 1844, it was alleged that a murder was committed in that country. In April, 1845, an indictment was found by a grand jury in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Arkansas against a person charged with committing the murder. In March, 1851, Congress passed an act erecting nine of the Western counties and the Indian country into a new judicial district, directing the judge to hold two terms there, and giving him jurisdiction of all causes, civi...
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