List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 45

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 45 (4 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1845 and 1846.

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 42nd volume of U. S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was Benjamin Chew Howard. 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, Cookendorfer v. Preston is 45 U. S. (4 How.) 317 (1846).

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). Due to an unfilled vacancy, when the cases in 45 U. S. (4 How.) were decided the Court comprised only these eight members:

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) John McLean Associate Justice Ohio Robert Trimble March 7, 1829(Acclamation) January 11, 1830–April 4, 1861(Died) James Moore Wayne Associate Justice Georgia William Johnson January 9, 1835(Acclamation) January 14, 1835–July 5, 1867(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) Peter Vivian Daniel Associate Justice Virginia Philip P. Barbour March 2, 1841(25–5) January 10, 1842–May 31, 1860(Died) Samuel Nelson Associate Justice New York Smith Thompson February 14, 1845(Acclamation) February 27, 1845–November 28, 1872(Retired) Levi Woodbury Associate Justice New Hampshire Joseph Story January 31, 1846(Acclamation) September 23, 1845–September 4, 1851(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 and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower court Disposition Gwinn v. Buchanan 1 (1845) Taney none none C. C. D. Miss. reversed Brown v. Clarke 4 (1846) Nelson none none N. D. Miss. affirmed Tombigbee Railroad Company v. Kneeland 16 (1845) Taney none none M. D. Ala. reversed Levi v. Thompson 17 (1845) Wayne none none Iowa affirmed Buchanan v. Alexander 20 (1845) per curiam none none Va. Cir. Ct. reversed Spalding v. People 21 (1845) Taney none none N. Y. affirmed Beals v. Hale 37 (1846) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Mich. certification Maney v. Porter 55 (1845) Taney none none Tenn. dismissed Erwin's Lessee v. Dundas 58 (1845) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. Ala. affirmed Gratiot v. United States 80 (1846) Wayne none McLean C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Paige v. Sessions 122 (1846) McLean none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Garrard v. Reynold's Lessee 123 (1845) Nelson none none C. C. D. Ky. affirmed Brandon v. Loftus 127 (1845) Catron none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Garland v. Davis 131 (1846) Woodbury none none C. C. D. C. reversed Stockton v. Bishop 155 (1846) Catron none none C. C. W. D. Pa. affirmed Jourdan v. Barrett 169 (1846) Catron none none La. reversed Carpenter v. Providence Washington Insurance Company 185 (1846) Woodbury none none C. C. D. R. I. affirmed Agricultural Bank v. Rice 225 (1846) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Clifton v. United States 242 (1846) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Buckley v. United States 251 (1846) Wayne none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Musson v. Lake 262 (1846) McKinley none Woodbury C. C. S. D. Miss. certification United States v. McLemore 286 (1846) McLean Wayne none C. C. D. M. Tenn. dismissed Zeller's Lessee v. Eckert 289 (1846) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Knox v. Smith 298 (1846) McLean none none C. C. D. W. Tenn. affirmed Cookendorfer v. Preston 317 (1846) McLean none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Rankin v. Hoyt 327 (1845) Woodbury none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Harris v. Robinson 336 (1846) Woodbury none McLean N. D. Ala. affirmed Foxcroft v. Mallett 353 (1846) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Me. affirmed Stimpson v. West Chester Railroad Company 380 (1846) McLean none none C. C. E. D. Pa. reversed Smyth v. Strader 404 (1845) McLean Catron none C. C. S. D. Ala. reversed Mackay v. Dillon 421 (1846) Catron none none Mo. reversed Les Bois v. Bramell 449 (1846) Catron none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Brown v. Union Bank 465 (1846) McLean none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. dismissed Aspden v. Nixon 467 (1846) Catron none none C. C. E. D. Pa. certification Downes v. Scott 500 (1846) McLean none none La. Dist. Ct. dismissed Michoud v. Girod 503 (1846) Wayne none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed United States v. Rogers 567 (1846) Taney none none C. C. D. C. certification Barry v. Mercein 574 (1846) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. continued Bradford v. Williams 576 (1846) Nelson none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. affirmed Hunt v. Palao 589 (1846) Taney none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. dismissed Rhode Island v. Massachusetts 591 (1846) McLean Taney none original dismissed Hardeman v. Anderson 640 (1846) McLean none none C. C. S. D. Miss. supersedeas granted Holliday v. Batson 645 (1846) Taney none none C. C. E. D. La. dismissed Wilson v. Rousseau 646 (1846) Nelson none McLean, Wayne, Woodbury C. C. N. D. N. Y. certification Simpson v. Wilson 709 (1846) Nelson none none C. C. D. La. certification Wilson v. Turner 712 (1846) Nelson none none C. C. N. D. N. Y. affirmed Woodworth v. Wilson 712 (1846) Nelson none none C. C. D. Ky. reversed