List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 46

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 46 (5 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1846 and 1847.

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, Mayberry v. Thompson is 46 U. S. (5 How.) 121 (1847).

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 46 U. S. (5 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 Jones v. Van Zandt, 46 U. S. (5 How.) 215 (1847), the Supreme Court held that no written or other formal notice of fugitive slave status was required to support a criminal charge of harbouring or concealing a runaway slave who had escaped to a free state.

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 Wood v. Underhill 1 (1846) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. reversed Sewall v. Chamberlain 6 (1847) Wayne none none C. C. S. D. Ala. dismissed Dick and Company v. Runnels 7 (1846) McLean none none C. C. S. D. Miss. certification United States v. Lawton 10 (1847) Catron none none Fla. Super. Ct. reversed United States v. Boyd 29 (1846) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Pepper v. Dunlap 51 (1846) Taney none none La. dismissed McAfee v. Doremus 53 (1847) McLean none none N. D. Miss. affirmed Walker v. Taylor 64 (1846) Grier none none Ky. dismissed Hildeburn v. Turner 69 (1847) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Miss. certification Miller v. Herbert 72 (1847) Daniel none none C. C. D. C. reversed Alexandria Canal Company v. Swann 83 (1847) Taney none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Bridges v. Armour 91 (1847) Nelson none none N. D. Miss. reversed Hall v. Smith 96 (1847) Wayne none none C. C. D. Md. certification Barry v. Mercein 103 (1847) Taney none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. dismissed Mayberry v. Thompson 121 (1847) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Ala. dismissed Nelson v. Hill 127 (1847) Daniel none none C. C. S. D. Ala. reversed Rowan v. Runnels 134 (1847) Taney none Daniel C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Truly v. Wanzer 141 (1847) Grier none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Ford v. Douglas 143 (1847) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Gear v. Parish 168 (1847) Nelson none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Wis. reversed In re Metzger 176 (1847) McLean none none original habeas corpus denied Creath's Administrator v. Sims 192 (1847) Daniel none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed United States v. Briggs 208 (1847) Taney none none C. C. D. Mich. certification Sheppard v. Wilson 210 (1847) Taney none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Iowa dismissal denied Miners' Bank v. United States ex rel. Grant 213 (1847) Taney none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Iowa dismissed Jones v. Van Zandt 215 (1847) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Ohio certification Taylor v. Benham 233 (1847) Woodbury none none N. D. Ala. affirmed Phillips v. Preston 278 (1846) Woodbury none none C. C. E. D. La. continued Cook v. Moffat 295 (1847) Grier Taney, McLean, Daniel, Woodbury none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Innerarity v. Byrne 295 (1847) McLean none none not indicated continued Commercial Bank v. Buckingham's Executors 317 (1847) Grier none none Ohio dismissed Scott v. Jones 343 (1847) Woodbury Wayne McLean Mich. dismissed United States v. Second Bank of the United States 382 (1847) Catron none McLean C. C. E. D. Pa. reversed Fox v. Ohio 410 (1847) Daniel none McLean Ohio affirmed Waring v. Clarke 441 (1847) Wayne none Catron, Woodbury, Grier C. C. E. D. La. reversed License Cases 504 (1847) Taney Catron, Daniel, Grier, McLean, Woodbury none multiple affirmed