List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 39

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 39 (14 Pet.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1840.

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, Irvine v. Lowry is 39 U. S. (14 Pet.) 293 (1840).

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 39 U. S. (14 Pet.) were decided, the Court comprised these nine justices:

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)

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 & year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition Evans v. Gee 1 (1840) Catron none none C. C. S. D. Ala. dismissed Lattimer's Lessee v. Poteet 4 (1840) McLean Taney Catron C. C. D. N. C. affirmed Bank of the Metropolis v. Guttschlick 19 (1840) Barbour none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Kane v. Paul 33 (1840) Wayne none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Covington v. Comstock 43 (1840) McLean none none C. C. D. Miss. reversed Smith v. Chesapeake & O. C. Co. 45 (1840) McLean none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Mitchell v. Lenox 49 (1840) Taney none none N. Y. dismissed West v. Brashear 51 (1840) Taney none none C. C. D. Ky. affirmed Commonwealth Bank v. Griffith 56 (1840) Taney none none Mo. dismissed Commercial & R. R. Bank v. Slocomb, R. & Co. 60 (1840) Barbour none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Suydam v. Broadnax 67 (1840) Wayne none none C. C. S. D. Ala. certification Carr v. Duval 77 (1840) Catron none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. affirmed Remington v. Linthicum 84 (1840) Taney none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Frevall v. Bache 95 (1840) Taney none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Peters v. Warren Ins. Co. 99 (1840) Story none none C. C. D. Mass. certification Atkins v. N. & K. Dick & Co. 114 (1840) Barbour none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Runyan v. Coster's Lessee 122 (1840) Thompson none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Preston v. Keene 133 (1840) Barbour none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Bank of Alexandria v. Dyer 141 (1840) Taney none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Walden's Lessee v. Craig's Heirs 147 (1840) McLean none none C. C. D. Ky. reversed Walden v. Bodley 156 (1840) McLean none none C. C. D. Ky. affirmed Edmonds v. Crenshaw 166 (1840) McLean none none C. C. S. D. Ala. reversed Keene v. Whitaker 170 (1840) Taney none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Taylor v. Longworth 172 (1840) Story none none C. C. D. Ohio affirmed Brewer's Lessee v. Blougher 178 (1840) Taney none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Sprigg v. Bank of Mt. Pleasant 201 (1840) Thompson none none C. C. D. Ohio affirmed Rhode Island v. Massachusetts 210 (1840) Taney none McLean; Catron original plea overruled De Valengin's Adm'rs v. Duffy 282 (1840) Taney none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Irvine ex rel. Lumberman's Bank v. Lowry 293 (1840) Baldwin none none C. C. W. D. Pa. certification United States v. Knight 301 (1840) Barbour none none C. C. D. Me. affirmedFowler v. Brantly 318 (1840) Catron none none C. C. S. D. Ala. affirmed Games v. Stiles 322 (1840) McLean none none C. C. D. Ohio affirmed United States v. Wiggins 334 (1840) Catron none none Fla. Super. Ct. reversed Pollard's Lessee v. Kibbe 353 (1840) Thompson McLean; Baldwin; Taney Barbour, Catron Ala. reversed United States v. Wood 430 (1840) Wayne none Thompson C. C. S. D. N. Y. certification Philadelphia & T. R. R. Co. v. Stimpson 448 (1840) Story none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed United States v. Morris 464 (1840) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. certification United States v. Waterman's Heirs 478 (1840) Baldwin none none Fla. Super. Ct. affirmed Brown & Co. v. M'Gran 479 (1840) Story none none C. C. D. Ga. reversed Decatur v. Paulding 497 (1840) Taney McLean, Catron none C. C. D. C. affirmed United States v. Stone 524 (1840) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. certification United States v. Gratiot 526 (1840) Thompson none none C. C. D. Ill. certification Holmes v. Jennison 540 (1840) Thompson Barbour; Catron Taney Vt. dismissed