List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 37

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 37 (12 Pet.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1838.

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").

Starting with the 26th volume of U. S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was Richard Peters, Jr. Peters was Reporter of Decisions from 1828 to 1843, covering volumes 26 through 41 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 16 of his Peters's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, United States v. Coombs is 37 U. S. (12 Pet.) 72 (1838).

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 37 U. S. (12 Pet.) were decided, the Court for the first time comprised nine justices, its membership having been expanded under the Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act of 1837; they were:

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) Joseph Story Associate Justice Massachusetts William Cushing November 18, 1811(Acclamation) February 3, 1812–September 10, 1845(Died) Smith Thompson Associate Justice New York Henry Brockholst Livingston December 9, 1823(Acclamation) September 1, 1823–December 18, 1843(Died) John McLean Associate Justice Ohio Robert Trimble March 7, 1829(Acclamation) January 11, 1830–April 4, 1861(Died) Henry Baldwin Associate Justice Pennsylvania Bushrod Washington January 6, 1830(41–2) January 18, 1830–April 21, 1844(Died) James Moore Wayne Associate Justice Georgia William Johnson January 9, 1835(Acclamation) January 14, 1835–July 5, 1867(Died) Philip P. Barbour Associate Justice Virginia Gabriel Duvall March 15, 1836(30–11) May 12, 1836–February 25, 1841(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)

In Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 37 U. S. (12 Pet.) 755 (1838), the Supreme Court asserted its original jurisdiction in a case involving one state against another over their shared border. The case involved a boundary dispute between Massachusetts and Rhode Island dating back to colonial times. Daniel Webster was involved in the case, representing Massachusetts.

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. "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
"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
"Ct. Cl." = United States Court of Claims
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
e. g.,"Me." = Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower court Disposition of case United States v. Laub 1 (1838) Thompson none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Swayze's Lessee v. Burke 11 (1838) McLean none none W. D. Pa. reversed Benton v. Woolsey 27 (1838) Taney none none N. D. N. Y. affirmed Second Bank of the United States v. Daniel 32 (1838) Catron none none C. C. D. Ky. reversed Bradstreet v. Thomas 59 (1838) Taney none none N. D. N. Y. dismissal denied M'Kinney v. Carroll 66 (1838) McKinley none none Ky. dismissed United States v. Coombs 72 (1838) Story none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. certification M'Niel v. Holbrook 84 (1838) Taney none none C. C. D. Ga. affirmed Town of Georgetown v. Alexandria Canal Company 91 (1838) Barbour none none C. C. D. C. affirmed West v. Brashear 101 (1838) Taney none none C. C. D. Ky. dismissal denied Beaston v. Farmers' Bank 102 (1838) McKinley none Story Md. affirmed Wilson's Heirs v. Life and Fire Insurance Company of New York 140 (1838) Taney none none E. D. La. dismissed Sarchet v. United States 143 (1838) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. dismissed Scott v. Lloyd 145 (1838) McLean none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Zacharie v. Franklin 151 (1838) Barbour none none E. D. La. affirmed Clarke v. Mathewson 164 (1838) Story none none C. C. D. R. I. reversed Clarke v. White 178 (1838) Catron none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Stelle v. Carroll 201 (1838) Taney none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Adams, Cunningham and Company v. Jones 207 (1838) Story none none C. C. D. W. Tenn. certification United States v. Mills' Heirs 215 (1838) Wayne none none Fla. Super. Ct. reversed Levy v. Arredondo 218 (1838) per curiam none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. reversed Rogers v. Batchelor 221 (1838) Story none none D. Miss. affirmed Lyon v. Auchincloss and Company 234 (1838) McLean none none E. D. La. affirmed White v. Turk 238 (1838) McKinley none none C. C. D. E. Tenn. dismissed Jenkins v. Pye 241 (1838) Thompson Catron none C. C. D. C. reversed Galloway v. Finley 264 (1838) Catron none none C. C. W. D. Pa. affirmed Toland v. Sprague 300 (1838) Barbour Taney; Baldwin; Wayne Taney; Baldwin; Wayne C. C. E. D. Pa. certification Ex parte Story 339 (1838) Taney none none E. D. La. mandamus denied Hepburn v. Dubois 345 (1838) Baldwin none none W. D. Pa. affirmed Bradlie v. Maryland Insurance Company 378 (1838) Story none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Strother v. Lucas 410 (1838) Baldwin Catron none D. Mo. affirmed Ex parte Poultney 472 (1838) Taney none none E. D. La. show cause denied United States v. Kingsley 476 (1838) Wayne none none Fla. Super. Ct. reversed Ex parte Sibbald 488 (1838) Baldwin none none Fla. Super. Ct. decree granted Reynolds v. Douglass 497 (1838) McLean none none D. Miss. reversed Choteau v. Marguerite 507 (1838) per curiam none none Mo. dismissed Garcia v. Lee 511 (1838) Taney none none E. D. La. affirmed Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes 524 (1838) Thompson none Taney, Barbour C. C. D. C. affirmed United States v. Delespine's Heirs 654 (1838) Wayne none none Fla. Super. Ct. affirmed Rhode Island v. Massachusetts 755 (1838) Baldwin Barbour Taney original dismissal denied Massachusetts v. Rhode Island 755 (1838) Thompson none none original withdrawal of appearance