List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 47

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 47 (6 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States from December 1847 to March 1848.

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, Stacy v. Thrasher ex rel. Sellers is 47 U. S. (6 How.) 44 (1848).

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 47 U. S. (6 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)

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 Sims v. Hundley 1 (1847) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Gwin v. Barton 7 (1847) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed United States v. Daniel 11 (1847) McLean none none C. C. D. N. C. certification Collier v. Stanbrough 14 (1847) Catron none none La. affirmed Bailey v. Dozier 23 (1848) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Bank of the U. S. v. Moss 31 (1847) Woodbury none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversed Nesmith v. Sheldon 41 (1848) Taney none none C. C. D. Mich. certification Stacy v. Thrasher ex rel. Sellers 44 (1848) Grier none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed van Ness v. van Ness 62 (1848) Taney none none C. C. D. C. dismissed Marshall v. Beall 70 (1848) Catron none none C. C. D. C. reversed Villabolos v. United States 81 (1848) Taney none none Fla. Super. Ct. dismissed Brashear v. Mason 92 (1848) Nelson none none C. C. D. C. affirmed De Armas's Heirs v. United States 103 (1848) Taney none none D. La. dismissed United States v. Curry 106 (1848) Taney none none D. La. dismissed Davis v. Tileston & Co. 114 (1848) Woodbury none none N. D. Miss. reversed Mathewson v. Clarke 122 (1848) McLean none none C. C. D. R. I. reversed Curtis v. Innerarity 146 (1848) Grier none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. affirmed Shelton v. Tiffin 163 (1848) McLean none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Pease v. Dwight 190 (1848) Wayne none none C. C. D. Mich. affirmed Forgay v. Conrad 201 (1848) Taney none none C. C. D. La. dismissal denied Perkins v. Fourniquet 206 (1848) Taney none none C. C. D. La. dismissed Pulliam v. Christian 209 (1848) McLean none none C. C. E. D. Va. dismissed Bank of the Metropolis v. New Eng. Bank 212 (1848) Taney none none C. C. D. C. reversed Bein v. Heath 228 (1848) McLean none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Bowling v. Harrison 248 (1848) Grier none none C. C. S. D. Miss. affirmed Sheppard v. Wilson 260 (1848) Grier none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Iowa affirmed United States v. Hodge 279 (1848) McLean none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Bush v. Marshall 284 (1848) Grier none none Sup. Ct. Terr. Iowa affirmed McMicken v. Webb 292 (1848) Daniel none none C. C. E. D. La. affirmed Planters' Bank v. Sharp 301 (1848) Woodbury none none Miss. reversed New Jersey S. N. Co. v. Merchants' Bank 344 (1848) Nelson Catron, Woodbury Daniel C. C. D. R. I. affirmed Hogg v. Emerson 437 (1848) Woodbury none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Houston v. City Bank 486 (1848) Taney none none La. reversed West R. B. Co. v. Dix 507 (1848) Daniel McLean, Woodbury none Vt. affirmed Patterson v. Gaines 550 (1848) Wayne none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed United States v. Yates 605 (1848) Taney none none D. La. appearance struck