This is a list of cases reported in volume 48 (7 How.) of ''

United States Reports The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...

'', decided by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1848 and 1849.

Nominative reports

In 1874, the U.S. government created the ''United States Reports'', and retroactively numbered older privately-published

case reports In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence ...

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 Nominate reports, also known as nominative reports, named reports and private reports, is a legal term from common law, common-law jurisdictions referring to the various published collections of reports of English law, English cases in various court ...

").

Benjamin Chew Howard

Starting with the 42nd volume of ''U.S. Reports'', the

Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States The reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States is the official charged with editing and publishing the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, both when announced and when they are published in permanent bound vol ...

was

Benjamin Chew Howard Benjamin Chew Howard (November 5, 1791 – March 6, 1872) was a Maryland politician and lawyer. After serving on the city council of Baltimore in 1820 and in both houses of the Maryland legislature, he was a Representative in the United States Co ...

. 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 Chicago'' is 48 U.S. (7 How.) 185 (1849).

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 48 U.S. (7 How.)

The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

, 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 A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

to set the number of justices. Under the

Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article III, Secti ...

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 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

, ten, and back to

justices (always including one chief justice). When the cases in 48 U.S. (7 How.) were decided the Court comprised these nine members:

Notable cases in 48 U.S. (7 How.)

''Luther v. Borden''

In ''

Luther v. Borden ''Luther v. Borden'', 48 U.S. (7 How.) 1 (1849), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States established the political question doctrine in controversies arising under the Guarantee Clause of Article Four of the United States Consti ...

''
48 U.S. (7 How.) 1 (1849)
the Supreme Court established the

political question In United States constitutional law, the political question doctrine holds that a constitutional dispute that requires knowledge of a non-legal character or the use of techniques not suitable for a court or explicitly assigned by the Constitution ...

doctrine in controversies arising under the

Guarantee Clause The Guarantee Clause, also known as the Republican Form of Government Clause, is in Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, and requires the United States to guarantee every state a republican form of government and provide protec ...

Article Four of the United States Constitution Article Four of the United States Constitution outlines the relationship between the various states, as well as the relationship between each state and the United States federal government. It also empowers Congress to admit new states and admin ...

(Art. IV, § 4). The holding that the "republican form of government" clause of Article Four is

non-justiciable Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It includes, but is not limited to, the legal concept of standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party ...

still stands today. The case arose from the

Dorr Rebellion The Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842) (also referred to as Dorr's Rebellion, Dorr's War or Dorr War) was an attempt by disenfranchised residents to force broader democracy in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, where a small rural elite was in control of ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

''Passenger Cases''

'' Smith v. Turner, and Norris v. Boston''
48 U.S. (7 How.) 283 (1849)
are two similar cases, argued together before the Supreme Court, which decided 5-4 that states do not have the right to impose a

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

determined by the number of passengers of a designated category on board a ship and/or disembarking into the State. Together, the cases are sometimes termed the ''Passenger Cases''. The Court did not produce a

majority opinion In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases have ...

. Eight Justices authored separate opinions, totalling hundreds of pages, and their respective stances on various issues did not always align with other justices in their concurrences or dissents. The ''Passengers Cases'' are of historical interest. They portray diverse views on several constitutional questions, especially whether the

Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...

prohibits any state regulation of interstate and foreign commerce in the absence of federal law or treaty. The failure of the Court to produce a majority opinion significantly diminished the value of the ''Passengers Cases'' as a

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

Citation style

Under the

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 In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the Sup ...

(''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 ''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' is a style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. It is taught and used at a majority of U.S. law schools and is also used in a majority of federal ...

citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions. * "C.C.D." = United States Circuit Court for the District of . . . ** ''e.g.,''"C.C.D.N.J." = United States Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey * "D." = United States District Court for the District of . . . ** ''e.g.,''"D. Mass." =

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...

* "E." = Eastern; "M." = Middle; "N." = Northern; "S." = Southern; "W." = Western ** ''e.g.,''"C.C.S.D.N.Y." = United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York ** ''e.g.,''"M.D. Ala." =

United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (in case citations, M.D. Ala.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appeal ...

* "Ct. Cl." =

United States Court of Claims The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims (), and abolished in 1982. Then, its jurisdiction was assumed by the n ...

* The abbreviation of a state's name alone indicates the highest appellate court in that state's judiciary at the time. ** ''e.g.,''"Pa." =

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme ...

** ''e.g.,''"Me." =

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. From 1820 until 1839, justices served lifetime ...

List of cases in 48 U.S. (7 How.)

Notes and references

External links

Case reports in volume 48 (7 How.) from Library of Congress

Case reports in volume 48 (7 How.) from Court Listener

Case reports in volume 48 (7 How.) from the Caselaw Access Project of

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

Case reports in volume 48 (7 How.) from Google Scholar

Case reports in volume 48 (7 How.) from Justia

Case reports in volume 48 (7 How.) from Open Jurist
Website of the United States Supreme Court

United States Courts website about the Supreme Court

* ttps://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/after-the-bar/essentials/how-does-the-supreme-court-work/ American Bar Association, How Does the Supreme Court Work?
The Supreme Court Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Supreme Court cases by volume 1848 in United States case law 1849 in United States case law