List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 56

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 56 (15 How.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1853 and 1854.

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, Corning v. Troy Iron & Nail Factory is 56 U. S. (15 How.) 451 (1854).

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 56 U. S. (15 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) 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) Robert Cooper Grier Associate Justice Pennsylvania Henry Baldwin August 4, 1846(Acclamation) August 10, 1846–January 31, 1870(Retired) Benjamin Robbins Curtis Associate Justice Massachusetts Levi Woodbury December 20, 1851(Acclamation) October 10, 1851–September 30, 1857(Resigned) John Archibald Campbell Associate Justice Alabama John McKinley March 22, 1853(Acclamation) April 11, 1853–April 30, 1861(Resigned)

O'Reilly v. Morse, 56 U. S. (15 How.) 62 (1853), also known as The Telegraph Patent Case, is an 1854 decision of the Supreme Court that has been highly influential in the development of the law of patent eligibility in regard to claimed inventions in the field of computer software related art. It holds, essentially, that an abstract idea, apart from its implementation, is not patent eligible.

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 United States v. Davenport's Heirs 1 (1853) Campbell none none E. D. La. multiple United States v. Patterson 10 (1853) Campbell none none E. D. La. multiple United States v. d'Auterieve 14 (1854) Nelson none Curtis E. D. La. reversed United States v. Roselius I 31 (1853) Catron none none E. D. La. reversed United States v. Roselius II 36 (1853) Taney none none E. D. La. reversed United States v. Ducros 38 (1854) Grier none none E. D. La. reversed Eyre v. Potter 42 (1854) Daniel none none C. C. D. N. C. affirmed O'Reilly v. Morse 62 (1854) Taney Grier Grier C. C. D. Ky. multiple Smith v. Ely 137 (1854) Taney none none C. C. D. Ohio certification Broome v. United States 143 (1854) Wayne none none C. C. N. D. Fla. affirmed Phelps v. Mayer 160 (1854) Taney none none C. C. D. Ind. affirmed Bispham v. Price 162 (1854) Campbell none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Bevins v. Ramsey 179 (1854) Catron none none C. C. E. D. Tenn. affirmed Rockhill v. Hanna 189 (1854) Grier none none C. C. D. Ind. certification Kanouse v. Martin 198 (1854) Curtis none none N. Y. Super. Ct. reversed Brooks v. Fiske 212 (1854) Catron none McLean C. C. D. Mass. affirmed Northern Indiana Railroad Company v. Michigan Central Railroad Company 233 (1854) McLean Catron; Campbell none C. C. D. Mich. affirmed Corning v. Burden 252 (1854) Grier none none C. C. N. D. N. Y. reversed Garrow v. Davis 272 (1854) Curtis none none C. C. D. Me. affirmed Magniac v. Thomson 281 (1854) Daniel none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Curran v. Arkansas 304 (1853) Curtis none Catron; Daniel Ark. reversed Anderson v. Bock 323 (1854) Campbell none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Winans v. Denmead 330 (1854) Curtis none Campbell C. C. D. Md. reversed Walworth v. Kneel 348 (1854) Taney none none Wis. dismissed Carter v. Bennett 354 (1854) Taney none none Fla. dismissed Forsyth v. Reynolds 358 (1854) Catron none none C. C. D. Ill. reversed McDonogh's Executors v. Murdoch 367 (1854) Campbell none none C. C. E. D. La. reversed Wylie v. Coxe 415 (1854) McLean none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Murray v. Gibson 421 (1854) Daniel none none C. C. S. D. Miss. certification Den ex rel. Russell v. Association of New Jersey Company 426 (1854) Taney none none C. C. D. N. J. affirmed Foley v. Harrison 433 (1854) McLean none none La. affirmed Corning v. Troy Iron and Nail Factory 451 (1854) Grier none none C. C. N. D. N. Y. dismissed United States v. Dawson 467 (1854) Nelson none McLean C. C. E. D. Ark. certification Kearney v. Taylor 494 (1854) Nelson none none C. C. D. N. J. affirmed Delauriere v. Emison 525 (1854) McLean none none Mo. affirmed Adams v. Otterback 539 (1854) McLean none none C. C. D. C. affirmed Livingston v. Woodworth 546 (1854) Daniel none none C. C. D. Mass. reversed