This is a list of cases reported in volume 79 (12 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1871 and 1872, and one case from 1870.[1]
| Supreme Court of the United States | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| 38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W | |
| Established | March 4, 1789 |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W |
| Composition method | Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation |
| Authorised by | Constitution of the United States, Art. III, § 1 |
| Judge term length | life tenure, subject to impeachment and removal |
| Number of positions | 9 (by statute) |
| Website | supremecourt |
Nominative reports
editIn 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").
John William Wallace
editStarting 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, Fowler v. Rathbones is 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 102 (1871).
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)".
Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 79 U.S. (12 Wall.)
editThe 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).[2] 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 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) were decided the Court comprised these nine members:
| Portrait | Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) |
Tenure on Supreme Court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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) |
|
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) |
Notable Cases in 79 U.S. (12 Wall.)
edit
Legal Tender Cases
editThe Legal Tender Cases 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 457 (1871) were two consolidated cases that affirmed the constitutionality of paper money. The U.S. government had issued paper money known as United States Notes during the American Civil War under the Legal Tender Act of 1861. In the Legal Tender Cases the Court held that United States Notes could be used to re-pay pre-existing debts.
Citation style
editUnder 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
List of cases in 79 U.S. (12 Wall.)
editNotes and references
edit- ^ Anne Ashmore, DATES OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS AND ARGUMENTS, Library, Supreme Court of the United States, 26 December 2018.
- ^ "Supreme Court Research Guide". Georgetown Law Library. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
See also
editExternal links
edit- [1] Case reports in volume 79 (12 Wall.) from Library of Congress
- [2] Case reports in volume 79 (12 Wall.) from Court Listener
- [3] Case reports in volume 79 (12 Wall.) from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School
- [4] Case reports in volume 79 (12 Wall.) from Google Scholar
- [5] Case reports in volume 79 (12 Wall.) from Justia
- [6] Case reports in volume 79 (12 Wall.) from Open Jurist
- Website of the United States Supreme Court
- United States Courts website about the Supreme Court
- National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States
- American Bar Association, How Does the Supreme Court Work?
- The Supreme Court Historical Society
