List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 51

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 51 (10 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1850 and 1851.

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, Butler v. Pennsylvania is 51 U. S. (10 How.) 402 (1851).

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 51 U. S. (10 How.) were decided the Court comprised these nine 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) Robert Cooper Grier Associate Justice Pennsylvania Henry Baldwin August 4, 1846(Acclamation) August 10, 1846–January 31, 1870(Retired)

In Strader v. Graham 51 U. S. (10 How.) 82 (1851), the Supreme Court held that the status of three slaves who went by steamboat from the slave state of Kentucky to the free states of Indiana and Ohio depended on Kentucky law rather than on Indiana or Ohio law. The slaves later escaped to Canada. Kentucky law made steamboat operators liable for the value of any slaves escaping by the boat. Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Roger Taney accepted the conclusions of the Supreme Court of Kentucky that refused to rule on the status of the slaves unless they were parties to the lawsuit, and that Kentucky need not apply Indiana or Ohio law under which the three slaves would be considered freed.

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 Missouri v. Iowa 1 (1851) per curiam none none original boundary set Webster v. Cooper 54 (1850) Taney none none C. C. D. Me. certification Shelby v. Bacon 56 (1850) McLean none none C. C. E. D. Pa. certification McNulty v. Batty 72 (1851) Nelson none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Wis. writ abated Preston v. Bracken 81 (1851) Nelson none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Wis. writ abated Strader v. Graham 82 (1851) Taney McLean, Catron none Ky. dismissed Wilson v. Sanford 99 (1851) Taney none none C. C. D. La. dismissed Downs v. Kissam 102 (1850) McLean none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Hoyt v. United States 109 (1850) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Ex parte Rhodes 144 (1851) Taney none none D. Tex. dismissal denied Oldfield v. Marriott 146 (1851) Wayne none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Hallett v. Collins 174 (1850) Grier none none C. C. S. D. Ala. affirmed Sears v. Eastburn 187 (1850) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Ala. reversed Woodruff v. Trapnall 190 (1851) McLean none Grier Ark. reversed Paup v. Drew 218 (1851) McLean Daniel, Nelson none Ark. affirmed Trigg v. Drew 224 (1851) McLean none none Ark. affirmed Greely v. Thompson 225 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Maxwell v. Griswold 242 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Gilmer v. Poindexter 257 (1851) Daniel none none C. C. D. La. reversed Barnard v. Adams 270 (1851) Grier none Daniel C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Henderson v. Tennessee 311 (1851) Taney none Woodbury Tenn. dismissed Stimpson v. Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Company 329 (1850) Daniel none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Landes v. Brant 348 (1851) Catron none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Philadelphia and Wilmington Railroad Company v. Maryland 376 (1851) Taney none none Md. affirmed Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Company v. Nesbit 395 (1851) Daniel none none Baltimore Cnty. Ct. affirmed Butler v. Pennsylvania 402 (1851) Daniel none McLean Pa. affirmed Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown Steam Packet Company v. Sickles 419 (1851) Grier none none C. C. D. C. reversed United States v. Brooks 442 (1851) Wayne none none C. C. D. La. affirmed Louisville Manufacturing Company v. Welch 461 (1851) Nelson none none C. C. D. La. reversed Gayler v. Wilder I 477 (1851) Taney none McLean C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Gayler v. Wilder II 509 (1851) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. rehearing denied Town of East Hartford v. Hartford Bridge Company 511 (1851) Woodbury none none Conn. affirmed Villalobos v. United States 541 (1851) Catron none none Fla. Super. Ct. affirmed St. John v. Paine 557 (1851) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Newton v. Stebbins 586 (1851) Nelson none Daniel C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed United States v. d'Auterive 609 (1851) Daniel none none D. La. reversed Robinson v. Minor 627 (1851) McLean none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed