List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 52

None

This is a list of cases reported in volume 52 (11 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, United States v. City of Philadelphia is 52 U. S. (11 How.) 609 (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 52 U. S. (11 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)

Hotchkiss v. Greenwood, 52 U. S. (11 How.) 248 (1851), is a Supreme Court decision credited with introducing into United States patent law the concept of non obviousness as a patentability requirement, as well as stating the applicable legal standard for determining its presence or absence in a claimed invention.

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 Gratz's Ex'rs v. Cohen 1 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. E. D. Pa. reversed United States v. Girault 22 (1851) Nelson none none N. D. Miss. dismissed Oakey v. Bennett 33 (1851) McLean none none D. Tex. affirmed United States v. Guillem 47 (1851) Taney none none C. C. D. La. affirmed United States v. Boisdore 63 (1851) Catron none McLean, Wayne S. D. Miss. reversed Blanc v. Lafayette 104 (1851) Wayne none none La. affirmed Lecompte v. United States 115 (1851) Daniel none none D. La. affirmed McCoy v. Rhodes 131 (1851) Catron none none C. C. D. La. reversed McGill v. Armour 142 (1851) McLean none none C. C. D. C. affirmed United States v. Morgan 154 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. D. La. reversed Gruner v. United States 163 (1851) Taney none none D. Tex. dismissed D'Arcy v. Ketchum 165 (1851) Catron none none C. C. D. La. reversed Hortsman v. Henshaw 177 (1851) Taney none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed League v. de Young 185 (1851) Grier none none Tex. affirmed Bevins ex rel. Earle v. Ramsey 185 (1851) per curiam none none C. C. D. E. Tenn. dismissed Brooks v. Norris 204 (1851) Taney none none La. dismissed Warner v. Martin 209 (1851) Wayne none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Cotton v. United States 229 (1851) Grier none none N. D. Fla. affirmed Stockton v. Ford 232 (1851) Nelson none none C. C. D. La. affirmed Hotchkiss v. Greenwood 248 (1851) Nelson none Woodbury C. C. D. Ohio affirmed Reeside v. Walker 272 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Florida v. Georgia 293 (1851) per curiam none none original subpoena issued Phillips v. Preston 294 (1851) per curiam none none C. C. E. D. La. certification Hogan v. Ross ex rel. Patterson 294 (1851) Taney none none N. D. Miss. supersedeas denied Van Rensselaer v. Kearney 297 (1851) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Weatherhead's Lessee v. Baskerville 329 (1851) Wayne none none C. C. M. D. Tenn. reversed Parks v. Ross 362 (1851) Grier none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Fowler v. Merrill 375 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Ark. affirmed Clements v. Berry 398 (1851) McLean none Catron Tenn. reversed Moore v. Brown 414 (1851) Wayne none Taney, Catron C. C. D. Ill. certification Webster v. Reid 437 (1851) McLean none none Iowa reversed van Buren v. Digges 461 (1851) Daniel none none C. C. D. C. reversed Conrad v. Griffey 480 (1851) Woodbury none none C. C. D. La. reversed Randon v. Toby 493 (1851) Grier none none D. Tex. affirmed Spear v. Place 522 (1851) Woodbury none none D. Tex. dismissed Pennsylvania v. Wheeling & B. B. Co. 528 (1851) per curiam none none original continued Gill v. Oliver's Ex'rs 529 (1851) Grier Woodbury Taney Md. dismissed United States v. Hughes 552 (1851) Catron none none C. C. D. La. reversed United States v. Power's Heirs 570 (1851) Catron none none S. D. Miss. reversed Larman v. Tisdale's Heirs 586 (1851) Taney none none not indicated dismissal denied Hogg v. Emerson 587 (1850) Woodbury none Catron C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed United States v. City of Philadelphia 609 (1851) Catron none McLean D. La. reversed United States v. Turner 663 (1851) Taney none none D. La. reversed Bennett v. Butterworth 669 (1851) Taney none none D. Tex. reversed