List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 83

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 83 (16 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1873, along with two cases from 1872.

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, Beall v. New Mexico is 83 U. S. (16 Wall.) 535 (1873). 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). When the 1873 cases in 83 U. S. (16 Wall.) were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

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) 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) William Strong Associate Justice Pennsylvania Robert Cooper Grier February 18, 1870(No vote recorded) March 14, 1870–December 14, 1880(Retired) Joseph P. Bradley Associate Justice New Jersey newly created seat March 21, 1870(46–9) March 23, 1870–January 22, 1892(Died) Ward Hunt Associate Justice New York Samuel Nelson December 11, 1872(Acclamation) January 9, 1873–January 27, 1882(Retired)

In the Slaughter House Cases, 83 U. S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873), the Supreme Court held that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution only protects the legal rights that are associated with federal U. S. citizenship, not those that pertain to state citizenship. The Slaughter House Cases essentially gutted the Privileges or Immunities Clause. In 1953, the American scholar Edward Samuel Corwin remarked: "Unique among constitutional provisions, the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment enjoys the distinction of having been rendered a practical nullity by a single decision of the Supreme Court rendered within five years after its ratification".

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 Dair v. United States1 (1873) Davis none none C. C. D. Ind. affirmed Lynde v. Winnebago County6 (1873) Swayne none Field C. C. D. Iowa reversed Voorhees v. Bonesteel16 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed The Commerce33 (1873) Strong none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Slaughter House Cases36 (1873) Miller none Field; Bradley; Swayne La. affirmed Bradwell v. State130 (1873) Miller Bradley none Ill. affirmed Mahan v. United States143 (1873) Miller none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Carlisle v. United States147 (1873) Field none none Ct. Cl. reversed Collector v. Doswell and Company156 (1873) Miller none none C. C. D. La. affirmed James v. City of Milwaukee159 (1872) Swayne none none C. C. E. D. Wis. reversed Garnharts v. United States162 (1873) Clifford none none M. D. Ala. reversed Hanrick v. Barton166 (1873) Bradley none none C. C. W. D. Tex. reversed The Cayuga177 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Smith v. Adsit185 (1873) Strong none none Ill. dismissed First National Bank v. Turnbull and Company190 (1873) Swayne none none C. C. D. Va. reversed Koontz v. Northern Bank196 (1873) Field none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Davis v. Gray203 (1873) Swayne none Davis C. C. W. D. Tex. affirmed Pierce v. Carskadon234 (1873) Field none Bradley W. Va. reversed Peabody v. Stark240 (1873) Miller none none C. C. M. D. Tenn. affirmed Humphrey v. Pegues244 (1873) Hunt none none C. C. D. S. C. affirmed Dickinson v. Planters' Bank250 (1873) Strong none none C. C. D. Tenn. affirmed Knickerbocker Insurance Company v. Comstock258 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. N. D. Ill. dismissed Carpenter v. Longan271 (1873) Swayne none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Colo. reversed Buchanan v. Smith277 (1873) Clifford none Bradley C. C. N. D. N. Y. affirmed Slawson v. United States310 (1873) Davis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Walker v. Whitehead314 (1873) Swayne none none Ga. reversed Michigan Central Railroad Company v. Manufacturing Company318 (1873) Davis none none C. C. D. Conn. affirmed Cofield v. McClelland331 (1873) Hunt none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Colo. affirmed Ripley v. Insurance Company336 (1873) Chase none none C. C. W. D. Mich. affirmed Merrill v. Petty338 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. dismissed The Mary Eveline348 (1873) Hunt none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. reversed Marqueze v. Bloom351 (1873) Chase none none La. dismissed McNitt v. Turner352 (1873) Swayne none none C. C. S. D. Ill. affirmed Taylor v. Taintor366 (1873) Swayne none Field Conn. affirmed New Orleans Insurance Company v. Piaggio378 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. D. La. reversed Burke v. Smith390 (1873) Strong none none C. C. D. Ind. affirmed Huntington v. Texas402 (1873) Chase none none Sup. Ct. D. C. reversed United States v. Huckabee414 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. M. D. Ala. reversed Walker v. Henshaw436 (1873) Davis none none Kan. affirmed Ribon v. Railroad Companies446 (1873) Swayne none none C. C. D. Iowa affirmed Kenicott v. Wayne County452 (1873) Hunt none none C. C. S. D. Ill. reversed Morgan v. Parham471 (1873) Hunt none none C. C. S. D. Ala. reversed Osborne v. City of Mobile479 (1873) Chase none none Ala. affirmed Planters' Bank v. Union Bank483 (1873) Strong none Bradley C. C. D. La. affirmed Tweed's Case504 (1873) Clifford none Bradley C. C. D. La. affirmed American Steamboat Company v. Chase522 (1873) Clifford none none R. I. affirmed Beall v. New Mexico535 (1873) Bradley none none Sup. Ct. Terr. N. M. reversed Mitchell v. Hawley544 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Marshall v. Knox551 (1873) Bradley none none C. C. D. La. reversed Smith v. McCool560 (1873) Swayne none none C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Specht v. Howard564 (1873) Swayne none none C. C. W. D. Tenn. affirmed St. Paul Water Company v. Ware566 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. D. Minn. affirmed Walbrun v. Babbitt577 (1873) Davis none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Wager v. Hall584 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. W. D. Wis. affirmed Kansas Pacific Railway Company v. Prescott603 (1873) Miller none none Kan. reversed Crapo v. Kelly610 (1873) Hunt Clifford Bradley N. Y. Sup. Ct. reversed St Joseph Township v. Rogers644 (1873) Clifford none none C. C. S. D. Ill. affirmed Railroad Company v. Otoe County667 (1873) Strong none none C. C. D. Neb. certification Olcott v. Fond du Lac County678 (1873) Strong none none C. C. E. D. Wis. reversed Ex parte United States699 (1872) per curiam none none Ct. Cl. mandamus granted