List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 49

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 49 (8 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1849 and 1850.

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, Reed v. Proprietors of Locks and Canals is 49 U. S. (8 How.) 274 (1850).

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 49 U. S. (8 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 Sheldon v. Sill, 49 U. S. (8 How.) 441 (1850), the Supreme Court held that the Congress may restrict the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts by limiting the subjects those courts may hear, even if those subjects fall within the federal judicial power defined by the United States Constitution.

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 United States v. Carr 1 (1849) Taney none none Ct. App. Terr. Fla. dismissed Ladd v. Ladd 10 (1850) Daniel none none C. C. D. C. affirmedUnited States v. Staats 41 (1849) Nelson none none C. C. N. D. N. Y. certificationSurgett v. Lapice 48 (1850) Catron none none C. C. D. La. reversedNathan v. Louisiana 73 (1850) McLean none none La. affirmedUnited States v. Buchanan 83 (1850) Woodbury none none C. C. E. D. Pa. reversedWilliams v. Benedict 107 (1850) Grier none none N. D. Miss. reversedUnited States v. Boisdore's Heirs 113 (1849) Taney none none S. D. Miss. dismissal deniedBennett v. Butterworth 124 (1850) Taney none Daniel D. Tex. dismissal deniedVeazie v. Williams 134 (1850) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Me. reversed Phalen v. Virginia 163 (1850) Grier none none Va. Gen. Ct. affirmedMcClanahan v. Davis 170 (1850) Nelson none none C. C. D. C. affirmedTaylor v. Taylor 183 (1850) Daniel Wayne none C. C. D. Ga. reversedMaxwell v. Kennedy 210 (1850) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Ala. affirmedMarsh v. Brooks 223 (1850) Catron none none Iowa reversedWanzer v. Tupper 234 (1850) Taney none none C. C. S. D. Miss. reversedClark v. Manufacturers' Ins. Co. 235 (1850) Woodbury none none C. C. D. Mass. reversedLord v. Veazie 251 (1850) Taney none none C. C. D. Me. dismissedPeale v. Phipps 256 (1850) McLean none none not indicated dismissal deniedWilson v. Barnum 258 (1850) Taney none none C. C. E. D. Pa. certificationDoe v. Watson 263 (1850) McLean none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmedReed v. Proprietors of L. & C. 274 (1850) Grier none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmedMenard's Heirs v. Massey 293 (1850) Catron none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Bissell v. Penrose 317 (1850) Nelson none McLean C. C. D. Mo. affirmedMills v. Stoddard 345 (1850) McLean none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Caldwell v. United States 366 (1850) Wayne none none C. C. E. D. Pa. reversed Gibson v. Stevens 384 (1850) Taney none none C. C. D. Ind. reversed West v. Smith 402 (1850) Woodbury none none C. C. D. C. affirmedMurrill v. Neill 414 (1850) Daniel none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Grove v. Brien 429 (1850) Nelson none none C. C. D. C. affirmedSheldon v. Sill 441 (1850) Grier none none C. C. D. Mich. reversedLe Roy v. Beard 451 (1850) Woodbury none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmedPrentice v. Zane's Adm'r 470 (1850) Grier none Wayne, Woodbury W. D. Va. affirmedMager v. Grima 490 (1850) Taney none none La. affirmedWilliamson v. Berry 495 (1850) Wayne none Nelson C. C. S. D. N. Y. certificationWilliamson v. Irish P. C. 565 (1850) Wayne none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. certificationWilliamson v. Ball 566 (1850) Wayne none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. certification Mills v. St. Clair Cnty. 569 (1850) Catron none none Ill. affirmedKennedy v. Bank of Ga. 586 (1850) McLean none none C. C. D. Ga. affirmed