List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 36

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 36 (11 Pet.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1837.

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 26th volume of U. S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was Richard Peters, Jr. Peters was Reporter of Decisions from 1828 to 1843, covering volumes 26 through 41 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 16 of his Peters's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, Rhode Island v. Massachusetts is 36 U. S. (11 Pet.) 226 (1837).

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 36 U. S. (11 Pet.) were decided, the Court comprised these seven justices:

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) Joseph Story Associate Justice Massachusetts William Cushing November 18, 1811(Acclamation) February 3, 1812–September 10, 1845(Died) Smith Thompson Associate Justice New York Henry Brockholst Livingston December 9, 1823(Acclamation) September 1, 1823–December 18, 1843(Died) John McLean Associate Justice Ohio Robert Trimble March 7, 1829(Acclamation) January 11, 1830–April 4, 1861(Died) Henry Baldwin Associate Justice Pennsylvania Bushrod Washington January 6, 1830(41–2) January 18, 1830–April 21, 1844(Died) James Moore Wayne Associate Justice Georgia William Johnson January 9, 1835(Acclamation) January 14, 1835–July 5, 1867(Died) Philip P. Barbour Associate Justice Virginia Gabriel Duvall March 15, 1836(30–11) May 12, 1836–February 25, 1841(Died)

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, 36 U. S. (11 Pet.) 420 (1837), was a case regarding two financially competing bridges, the Charles River Bridge and the Warren Bridge, of Boston, Massachusetts; it was heard by the Supreme Court early in the term of office of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. In 1785, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted the Charles River Bridge Company a charter to construct a bridge over the Charles River connecting Boston and Charlestown. The charter did not expressly grant exclusive rights to the Charles River proprietors. In 1828 the Massachusetts legislature sanctioned another company to build the Warren Bridge, close to the first bridge and connecting the same cities. The owners of the Charles River Bridge claimed the Commonwealth had broken its contract with it, and so had violated the Contract Clause of the U. S. Constitution. The Supreme Court, however, found for the Warren Bridge, pointing out that with the progress of technology, canals and railroads had started to take away business from highways, and if corporate charters implied monopolies, then transportation improvements would not be able to flourish.

In Poole v. Lessee of Fleeger, 36 U. S. (11 Pet.) 185 (1837), the Supreme Court held that the states of Kentucky and Tennessee had properly entered into an agreement establishing a mutual border between the two states. The plaintiffs in the case were improperly granted title to property by Tennessee outside of its agreed border. In the ruling, the Supreme Court asserted the fundamental right of states and nations to establish their borders regardless of private contract.

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 Marlatt's Lessee v. Silk 1 (1837) Barbour none McLean W. D. Pa. reversed McMicken v. Webb 25 (1837) Thompson none none E. D. La. reversed Ewing's Lessee v. Burnet 41 (1837) Baldwin none none C. C. D. Ohio certification Veazie v. Wadleigh 55 (1837) Story none none C. C. D. Me. dismissal granted Allen v. Hammond 63 (1837) McLean none none C. C. D. R. I. affirmed The Ship Garonne 73 (1837) Taney none none E. D. La. affirmed Evans v. Gee 80 (1837) Wayne none none S. D. Ala. affirmed United States v. Leffler 86 (1837) Barbour none none C. C. E. D. Va. affirmed City of New York v. Miln 102 (1837) Barbour none Story C. C. S. D. N. Y. certification United States v. Cox 162 (1837) McLean none none E. D. La. dismissed McBride v. Hoey's Lessee 167 (1837) Taney none none Pa. dismissed Postmaster General v. Trigg 173 (1837) Taney none none original mandamus denied The Steamboat Orleans 175 (1837) Story none none E. D. La. dismissed Poole v. Fleeger's Lessee 185 (1837) Story none none C. C. D. W. Tenn. affirmed Waters v. Merchants' Life Insurance Company 213 (1837) Story none none C. C. D. Ky. certification Rhode Island v. Massachusetts 226 (1837) Taney none none original continued Jackson v. Ashton 229 (1837) McLean none none C. C. D. Pa. affirmed Briscoe v. Bank of Kentucky 257 (1837) McLean Thompson Story Ky. affirmed Livingston v. Story 351 (1837) Wayne none Baldwin E. D. La. reversed Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge 420 (1837) Taney none McLean; Story; Thompson Mass. affirmed