List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 77

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 77 (10 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States from 1869 to 1871.

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 66th volume of U. S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was John William Wallace. Wallace was Reporter of Decisions from 1863 to 1874, covering volumes 68 through 90 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 23 of his Wallace's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, is 77 U. S. (10 Wall.) 544 (1870). Wallace's Reports were the final nominative reports for the US Supreme Court; starting with volume 91, cases were identified simply as "(volume #) U. S. (page #) (year)".

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). To prevent President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices, a hostile Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act of 1866, eliminating three of the ten seats from the Supreme Court as they became vacant, and so potentially reducing the size of the court to seven justices. The vacancy caused by the death of Justice John Catron in 1865 had not been filled, so after Justice James Moore Wayne died in July 1867 there were eight justices left on the court at the start of the term when the cases in 77 U. S. (10 Wall.) were decided; however Justice Robert Cooper Grier resigned at the end of January 1870, temporarily reducing the Court to seven justices. Newly confirmed justices William Strong and Joseph P. Bradley joined the Court in March 1870, in the final weeks of the session. This brought the Court back to nine justices, the number set by the Judiciary Act of 1869.

Portrait Justice Office Home State Succeeded Date confirmed by the Senate(Vote) Tenure on Supreme Court Salmon P. Chase Chief Justice Ohio Roger B. Taney December 6, 1864(Acclamation) December 15, 1864–May 7, 1873(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) Nathan Clifford Associate Justice Maine Benjamin Robbins Curtis January 12, 1858(26–23) January 21, 1858–July 25, 1881(Died) Noah Haynes Swayne Associate Justice Ohio John McLean January 24, 1862(38–1) January 27, 1862–January 24, 1881(Retired) Samuel Freeman Miller Associate Justice Iowa Peter Vivian Daniel July 16, 1862(Acclamation) July 21, 1862–October 13, 1890(Died) David Davis Associate Justice Illinois John Archibald Campbell December 8, 1862(Acclamation) December 10, 1862–March 4, 1877(Resigned) Stephen Johnson Field Associate Justice California newly created seat March 10, 1863(Acclamation)May 10, 1863–December 1, 1897(Retired) William Strong Associate Justice Pennsylvania Robert Cooper Grier February 18, 1870(No vote recorded) March 14, 1870–December 14, 1880(Retired) Joseph P. Bradley Associate Justice New Jersey newly created seat March 21, 1870(46–9) March 23, 1870–January 22, 1892(Died)

The Slaughter House Cases, 77 U. S. (10 Wall.) 273 (1870) were consolidated cases pertaining to the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment only protects legal rights associated with federal U. S. citizenship, but not those that pertain to state citizenship. In effect, the clause was interpreted to convey limited protection pertinent only to a small number of rights, such as the right to seek federal office. The Slaughter House Cases essentially "gutted" the Privileges or Immunities Clause. In 1953, the American scholar Edward Samuel Corwin remarked: "Unique among constitutional provisions, the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment enjoys the distinction of having been rendered a practical nullity by a single decision of the Supreme Court rendered within five years after its ratification."

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 The Blackwall 1 (1870) Clifford none none D. Cal. reversed The Davis 15 (1870) Miller none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed McKee v. Rains 22 (1870) Chase none none C. C. D. La. affirmed Little v. Herndon 26 (1870) Nelson none Miller C. C. N. D. Ill. affirmed Bates v. Equitable Insurance Company 33 (1870) Miller none none C. C. D. R. I. affirmed People's Railroad v. Memphis Railroad 38 (1869) Clifford none Chase Tenn. affirmed Reilly v. Golding 56 (1870) Nelson none none C. C. D. La. affirmed Boylan v. United States 58 (1870) Chase none none C. C. D. N. Y. affirmed Mahoney v. United States 62 (1870) Field none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Texas v. Hardenberg 68 (1869) Chase none none original decree for Tex. Schools v. Risley 91 (1870) Clifford none none Mo. affirmed Stimpson v. Woodman 117 (1870) Nelson none Clifford C. C. D. Mass. reversed Texas v. Chiles 127 (1871) Nelson none none original account denied Wiggins v. Burkham 129 (1870) Swayne none none C. C. D. Ind. affirmed Clark v. Bousfield 133 (1870) Nelson none none C. C. N. D. Ohio certification Feild v. Farrington 141 (1870) Strong none none C. C. E. D. Ark. reversed Bank of the Republic v. Millard 152 (1870) Davis none none Sup. Ct. D. C. reversed Dean v. Nelson 158 (1870) Bradley none none C. C. W. D. Tenn. modified Downham v. City of Alexandria 173 (1870) Field none none Va. Gen. Dist. Ct. dismissed Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company v. Reeves 176 (1870) Miller none none C. C. W. D. Tenn. reversed The Lulu 192 (1870) Clifford none none C. C. D. Md. reversed The Kalorama 204 (1870) Clifford none none C. C. D. Md. reversed Braun v. Sauerwein 218 (1870) Strong none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Hornsby v. United States 224 (1870) Field none Davis D. Cal. reversed The Columbia 246 (1870) Strong none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. affirmed Deming's Appeal 251 (1870) Swayne none none Ct. Cl. reinstatement denied New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad v. Morgan 256 (1870) Clifford none none C. C. D. La. dismissal denied Deery v. Cray 263 (1870) Miller none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Slaughter House Cases 273 (1870) Clifford none Bradley; Field; Swayne La. 14th Am. limits Washington Railroad Company v. Bradleys 299 (1870) Swayne none none Sup. Ct. D. C. reversed Gunnell v. Bird 304 (1870) Bradley none none Sup. Ct. D. C. reversed Cooper v. Reynolds 308 (1870) Miller none Field C. C. E. D. Tenn. reversed Smith v. Stevens 321 (1870) Davis none none Kan. affirmed Jones v. Andrews 327 (1870) Bradley none none C. C. W. D. Tenn. reversed The Farragut 334 (1870) Bradley none none C. C. S. D. Ill. affirmed Rutland Marble Company v. Ripley 339 (1870) Strong none none C. C. D. Vt. reversed Hanrick v. Neely 364 (1870) Davis none none C. C. W. D. Tex. reversed Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company v. Trimble 367 (1870) Swayne none Bradley C. C. D. Md. affirmed Barnard v. Kellogg 383 (1871) Davis none none C. C. D. Conn. reversed United States v. Hodson 395 (1870) Swayne none none C. C. D. Wis. reversed Ducat v. City of Chicago 410 (1871) Nelson none none Ill. affirmed Masterson v. Herndon 416 (1870) Miller none none C. C. W. D. Tex. dismissed The Mabey 419 (1870) Nelson none none C. C. D. N. Y. examination denied Campbell v. Wilcox 421 (1871) Field none none C. C. S. D. Ohio affirmed United States v. Vigil 423 (1870) Nelson none none Sup. Ct. Terr. N. M. dismissal denied Tappan v. Beardsley 427 (1871) Miller none none C. C. S. D. N. Y. reversed Kimball v. Collector 436 (1870) Clifford none none C. C. D. Mass. affirmed The Clinton Bridge 454 (1870) Nelson none none C. C. D. Iowa affirmed Corbett v. Nutt 464 (1871) Field none none Va. affirmed Hannauer v. Woodruff 482 (1871) Nelson none none C. C. E. D. Ark. certification In re Paschal 483 (1871) Bradley none none not indicated multiple Yates v. City of Milwaukee 497 (1871) Miller none none C. C. D. Wis. reversed Messenger v. Mason 507 (1871) Nelson none none Iowa dismissed Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company v. McClure 511 (1871) Swayne none none Iowa dismissed Coddington v. Richardson 516 (1871) Nelson none none C. C. S. D. Ill. affirmed Brobst v. Brock 519 (1871) Strong none none C. C. E. D. Pa. affirmed Bethell v. Demaret 537 (1871) Nelson none none La. dismissed Ex parte Graham 541 (1871) Swayne none none D. La. prohibition denied City of Baltimore v. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company 543 (1871) Davis none none C. C. D. Md. affirmed Pennsylvania v. Quicksilver Mining Company 553 (1871) Nelson none none original dismissed The Daniel Ball 557 (1871) Field none none C. C. W. D. Mich. affirmed Liverpool Insurance Company v. Massachusetts 566 (1871) Miller Bradley none Mass. affirmed The Cotton Plant 577 (1871) Strong none none E. D. Pa. reversed Miller v. McKenzie 582 (1871) Nelson none none N. D. Miss. dismissed Stovall v. Banks 583 (1871) Strong none none N. D. Ga. reversed Stagg v. Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company 589 (1871) Miller none none C. C. D. Mo. affirmed Ward v. United States 593 (1871) Davis none Field Ct. Cl. affirmed Merchants' National Bank v. State National Bank 604 (1871) Swayne none Clifford C. C. D. Mass. reversed Marsh v. Fulton County 676 (1871) Field none none C. C. S. D. Ill. affirmed