List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 74

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 74 (7 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1869.

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 66th volume of U. S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was John William Wallace. Wallace was Reporter of Decisions from 1863 to 1874, covering volumes 68 through 90 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 23 of his Wallace's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, Lincoln v. Clafin is 74 U. S. (7 Wall.) 132 (1869). Wallace's Reports were the final nominative reports for the US Supreme Court; starting with volume 91, cases were identified simply as "(volume #) U. S. (page #) (year)".

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). To prevent President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices, a hostile Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act of 1866, eliminating three of the 10 seats from the Supreme Court as they became vacant, and so potentially reducing the size of the court to seven justices. The vacancy caused by the death of Justice John Catron in 1865 had not been filled, so after Justice James Moore Wayne died in July 1867 there were eight justices left on the court when the cases in 74 U. S. (7 Wall.) were decided:

Portrait Justice Office Home State Succeeded Date confirmed by the Senate(Vote) Tenure on Supreme Court Salmon P. Chase Chief Justice Ohio Roger B. Taney December 6, 1864(Acclamation) December 15, 1864–May 7, 1873(Died) Samuel Nelson Associate Justice New York Smith Thompson February 14, 1845(Acclamation) February 27, 1845–November 28, 1872(Retired) Robert Cooper Grier Associate Justice Pennsylvania Henry Baldwin August 4, 1846(Acclamation) August 10, 1846–January 31, 1870(Retired) Nathan Clifford Associate Justice Maine Benjamin Robbins Curtis January 12, 1858(26–23) January 21, 1858–July 25, 1881(Died) Noah Haynes Swayne Associate Justice Ohio John McLean January 24, 1862(38–1) January 27, 1862–January 24, 1881(Retired) Samuel Freeman Miller Associate Justice Iowa Peter Vivian Daniel July 16, 1862(Acclamation) July 21, 1862–October 13, 1890(Died) David Davis Associate Justice Illinois John Archibald Campbell December 8, 1862(Acclamation) December 10, 1862–March 4, 1877(Resigned) Stephen Johnson Field Associate Justice California newly created seat March 10, 1863(Acclamation)May 10, 1863–December 1, 1897(Retired)

Ex parte McCardle, 74 U. S. (7 Wall.) 506 (1869), arose during the Civil War Reconstruction. Newspaper publisher McCardle circulated "incendiary" articles advocating opposition to the Reconstruction laws enacted by Congress. He was jailed by a military commander under the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. McCardle pursued a writ of habeas corpus in a Circuit Court in Mississippi, where he was unsuccessful. He appealed to the Supreme Court under the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, which granted appellate jurisdiction to review denial of habeas corpus petitions. After the case was argued but before an opinion was delivered, Congress suspended the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over the case, exercising powers granted under Article III, section 2 of the US Constitution to limit the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Court validated congressional withdrawal of the Court's jurisdiction, and so McCardle had no recourse by which to challenge his imprisonment in federal court.

In Texas v. White, 74 U. S. (7 Wall.) 700 (1869), is one of the most important Supreme Court decisions during the Reconstruction era. It remains influential because of its definition of the legal status of a state and how states relate to each other within the nation. In accepting original jurisdiction under the constitution's jurisdictional grant of state v. state cases, the Court ruled that as a matter of constitutional law Texas had remained a United States state ever since it first joined the Union despite its later joining the insurrectionist Confederate States of America. The Court held that the Constitution did not permit states unilaterally to secede from the Union, and that the ordinances of secession and all acts of legislatures in seceding states intended to give effect to such ordinances were void.

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 Girard v. City of Philadelphia 1 (1869) Grier none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Banks v. City of New York 16 (1869) Chase none none N. Y. reversed Bank of N. Y. v. Supervisors 26 (1869) Chase none none N. Y. reversed The Georgia 32 (1869) Nelson none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Mutual Ins. Co. v. Tweed 44 (1869) Miller none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed The China 53 (1869) Swayne Clifford none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Lane Cnty. v. Oregon 71 (1869) Chase none none Or. affirmed City of Aurora v. West 82 (1869) Clifford none Miller C. C. D. Ind. affirmed Durant v. Essex Cnty. 107 (1869) Field none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Kendall v. United States 113 (1869) Miller none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Cowles v. Mercer Cnty. 118 (1869) Chase none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Nichols v. United States 122 (1869) Davis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Lincoln v. Claflin 132 (1869) Field none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Green v. Van Buskirk 139 (1869) Davis none none N. Y. Sup. Ct. reversed The Siren 152 (1869) Field none Nelson D. Mass. reversed Dorsheimer v. United States 166 (1869) Grier none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Lee Cnty. v. Rogers I 175 (1869) Nelson none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Lee Cnty. v. Rogers II 181 (1869) Nelson none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Gordon v. United States 188 (1869) Grier none none Ct. Cl. affirmed The Grace Girdler 196 (1869) Swayne none Davis C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Brown v. Pierce 205 (1869) Clifford none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Neb. affirmed Silver v. Ladd 219 (1869) Miller none none Or. reversed Bronson v. Rodes 229 (1869) Chase Davis; Swayne Miller N. Y. reversed Butler v. Horwitz 258 (1869) Chase none Miller Md. Ct. Com. Pl. reversed Northern C. Ry. Co. v. Jackson 262 (1869) Nelson none Clifford C. C. D. Md. affirmed Litchfield v. Dubuque & P. R. R. Co. 270 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Iowa reversed St. Paul & P. R. R. Co. v. Schurmeir 272 (1869) Clifford none none Minn. affirmed Mead v. Ballard 290 (1869) Miller none none C. C. D. Wis. affirmed Jacobs v. Baker 295 (1869) Grier none none C. C. S. D. Ohio affirmed Drury v. Cross 299 (1869) Davis none none C. C. D. Wis. reversed Edmonson v. Bloomshire 306 (1869) Miller none none C. C. S. D. Ohio dismissed Benbow v. City of Iowa City 313 (1869) Davis none none C. C. D. Iowa reversed Boyd v. Moses 316 (1869) Field none none S. D. N. Y. affirmed Twitchell v. Pennsylvania 321 (1869) Chase none none Pa. dismissed Tyler v. City of Boston 327 (1869) Grier none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Grant v. United States 331 (1869) Davis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed United States v. Shoemaker 338 (1869) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. Mich. reversed Thomson v. Dean 342 (1869) Chase none none C. C. D. W. Tenn. dismissal denied Gaines v. Thompson 347 (1869) Miller none none C. C. D. C. affirmed The Diana 354 (1869) Field none none S. D. Fla. reversed Kellogg v. United States 361 (1869) Grier none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Ex Parte Bradley 364 (1869) Nelson none Miller Sup. Ct. D. C. mandamus granted Riddlesbarger v. Hartford Ins. Co. 386 (1869) Field none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Chicago et al. R. R. Co. v. Howard 392 (1869) Clifford none none C. C. D. Iowa affirmed Sheets v. Selden 416 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Ind. affirmed Payne v. Hook 425 (1869) Davis none none C. C. D. Mo. reversed Pacific Ins. Co. v. Soule 433 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Cal. certification Ward v. Smith 447 (1869) Field none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Confiscation Cases 454 (1869) Clifford none none E. D. La. multiple United States v. Adams 463 (1869) Nelson none none Ct. Cl. reversed United States v. Kirby 482 (1869) Field none none C. C. D. Ky. certification Mulligan v. Corbins 487 (1869) Davis none none Ky. affirmed United States v. Gilmore 491 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Neb. reversed Kelly v. Owen 496 (1869) Field none none Sup. Ct. D. C. affirmed Ewing v. Howard 499 (1869) Clifford none none C. C. M. D. Tenn. affirmed Ex parte McCardle 506 (1869) Chase none none C. C. S. D. Miss. dismissed Moore v. Marsh 515 (1869) Clifford none none C. C. W. D. Pa. reversed Randall v. Brigham 523 (1869) Field none none D. Mass. affirmed Palmer v. Donner 541 (1869) Chase none none Cal. dismissed Coppell v. Hall 542 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Cocks v. Izard 559 (1869) Davis none none C. C. D. La. reversed The Grapeshot 563 (1869) Chase none none C. C. D. La. dismissal denied Generes v. Bonnemer 564 (1869) Miller none none C. C. D. La. affirmed Laber v. Cooper 565 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed The Alicia 571 (1869) Chase none none C. C. S. D. Fla. appeal improvident Baltimore & O. R. R. Co. v. Harris 574 (1869) Chase none none Sup. Ct. D. C. supersedeas denied Washington et al. R. R. Co. v. Bradleys 575 (1869) Chase none none Sup. Ct. D. C. supersedeas granted Morris v. United States 578 (1869) Chase none none M. D. Ala. reversed United States v. Rosenburgh 580 (1869) Chase none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. dismissed Agawam W. Co. v. Jordan 583 (1869) Clifford none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Morgan v. Town of Beloit I 610 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Wis. reversed Morgan v. Town of Beloit II 613 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Wis. reversed Town of Beloit v. Morgan 619 (1869) Swayne none none C. C. D. Wis. affirmed The Belfast 624 (1869) Clifford none none Ala. reversed White's Bank v. Smith 646 (1869) Nelson none none C. C. N. D. N. Y. reversed The Nichols 656 (1869) Clifford none none N. D. N. Y. affirmed The Floyd Acceptances 666 (1869) Miller none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Whitely v. Swayne 685 (1869) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. Ohio affirmed Garrison v. United States 688 (1869) Miller none none Ct. Cl. reversed James v. Bank of Mobile 692 (1869) Chase none none C. C. D. La. dismissal denied Blitz v. Brown 693 (1869) Chase none none Sup. Ct. D. C. dismissed Washington Cnty. v. Durant 694 (1869) Chase none none C. C. D. Iowa dismissed Austin v. City of Boston 694 (1869) Swayne none none Mass. affirmed Texas v. White 700 (1869) Chase none Grier; Swayne original decree for Texas Roland v. United States 743 (1869) Davis none none N. D. Cal. affirmed