| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Type: | Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation |
| Authority: | Constitution of the United States, Art. III, §1 |
| Terms: | life tenure, subject to impeachment and removal |
| Positions: | 9 (by statute) |
This is a list of cases reported in volume 143 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1892.
See also: List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
See also: List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office.
See also: List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States by court composition.
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).[1] 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 volume 143 U.S. were decided the Court comprised the following eight members (Justice Joseph P. Bradley had died in January 1892):
| Portrait | Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melville Fuller | Chief Justice | Illinois | Morrison Waite | (41–20) | – July 4, 1910 (Died) | |
| Stephen Johnson Field | Associate Justice | California | newly created seat | (Acclamation) | – December 1, 1897 (Retired) | |
| John Marshall Harlan | Associate Justice | Kentucky | David Davis | (Acclamation) | – October 14, 1911 (Died) | |
| Horace Gray | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Nathan Clifford | (51–5) | – September 15, 1902 (Died) | |
| Samuel Blatchford | Associate Justice | New York | Ward Hunt | (Acclamation) | – July 7, 1893 (Died) | |
| Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar | Associate Justice | Mississippi | William Burnham Woods | (32–28) | – January 23, 1893 (Died) | |
| David Josiah Brewer | Associate Justice | Kansas | Stanley Matthews | (53–11) | – March 28, 1910 (Died) | |
| Henry Billings Brown | Associate Justice | Michigan | Samuel Freeman Miller | (Acclamation) | – May 28, 1906 (Retired) | |
See also: United States district court.
See also: United States circuit court.
See also: United States court of appeals.
See also: United States federal courts. 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.
The Judiciary Act of 1891 created the United States Courts of Appeals and reassigned the jurisdiction of most routine appeals from the district and circuit courts to these appellate courts. The Act created nine new courts that were originally known as the "United States Circuit Courts of Appeals." The new courts had jurisdiction over most appeals of lower court decisions. The Supreme Court could review either legal issues that a court of appeals certified or decisions of court of appeals by writ of certiorari. The change resulted in an immediate reduction in the Supreme Court's workload (from 623 cases filed in 1890 to 379 in 1891 and 275 in 1892).
Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.
See also: Fuller Court.
| Case Name | Page & year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville W. Co. v. Clark | 1 (1892) | Harlan | none | none | Ky. | affirmed |
| District of Columbia v. Hutton | 18 (1892) | Lamar | none | none | affirmed | |
| National S.S. Co. v. Tugman | 28 (1892) | Brown | none | none | affirmed | |
| Sioux City et al. Co. v. Griffey | 32 (1892) | Brewer | none | none | affirmed | |
| New Orleans P. Ry Co. v. Parker | 42 (1892) | Brown | none | none | reversed | |
| New York et al. R.R. Co. v. Winter's Adm'r | 60 (1892) | Lamar | none | none | affirmed | |
| United States v. Witten | 76 (1892) | Gray | none | none | reversed | |
| Tyler v. Savage | 79 (1892) | Blatchford | none | none | affirmed | |
| Smale v. Mitchell | 99 (1892) | Field | none | none | certification | |
| In re Rapier | 110 (1892) | Fuller | none | none | habeas corpus denied | |
| Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer | 135 (1892) | Fuller | none | Field | reversed | |
| Union M.L. Ins. Co. v. Hanford | 187 (1892) | Gray | none | none | affirmed | |
| New Orleans et al. R.R. Co. v. City of New Orleans | 192 (1892) | Gray | none | none | affirmed | |
| Waterman v. Alden | 196 (1892) | Gray | none | none | affirmed | |
| In re Woods | 202 (1892) | Fuller | none | none | certiorari denied | |
| Horner v. United States I | 207 (1892) | Blatchford | none | none | affirmed | |
| Lawrence v. Nelson | 215 (1892) | Gray | none | none | affirmed | |
| Hammond v. Hopkins | 224 (1892) | Fuller | none | none | reversed | |
| The Barbed Wire Patent | 275 (1892) | Brown | none | Field | reversed | |
| Michigan Ins. Bank v. Eldred | 293 (1892) | Gray | none | none | reversed | |
| Ludeling v. Chaffe | 301 (1892) | Gray | none | none | dismissed | |
| Horn Silver M. Co. v. People | 305 (1892) | Field | none | none | affirmed | |
| Chandler v. Pomeroy | 318 (1892) | Brown | none | none | reversed | |
| Chicago et al. Ry. Co. v. Wellman | 339 (1892) | Brewer | none | none | affirmed | |
| Briggs v. United States | 346 (1892) | Field | none | none | reversed | |
| Nebraska v. Iowa | 359 (1892) | Brewer | none | none | boundary set | |
| Winona et al. R.R. Co. v. Town of Plainview | 371 (1892) | Blatchford | none | none | dismissed | |
| Iron S.M. Co. v. Mike et al. Co. | 394 (1892) | Brewer | none | none | affirmed | |
| Sullivan v. Iron S.M. Co. | 431 (1892) | Brewer | Field | none | affirmed | |
| Schwab v. Berggren | 442 (1892) | Harlan | none | none | affirmed | |
| Fielden v. Illinois | 452 (1892) | Harlan | none | none | affirmed | |
| Church of Holy Trinity v. United States | 457 (1892) | Brewer | none | none | reversed | |
| In re Cooper | 472 (1892) | Fuller | none | none | prohibition denied | |
| The Sylvia Handy | 513 (1892) | Fuller | none | none | affirmed | |
| Budd v. People | 517 (1892) | Blatchford | none | Brewer | affirmed | |
| Hoyt v. Latham | 553 (1892) | Brown | none | none | reversed | |
| Horner v. United States II | 570 (1892) | Blatchford | none | none | affirmed | |
| Dunwoody v. United States | 578 (1892) | Harlan | none | none | affirmed | |
| Gandy v. Main B. Co. | 587 (1892) | Brown | none | none | reversed | |
| Chicago et al. Ry. Co. v. Denver et al. R.R. Co. | 596 (1892) | Brown | none | Brewer | affirmed | |
| United States v. Texas | 621 (1892) | Harlan | none | Fuller | jurisdiction confirmed | |
| Field v. Clark | 649 (1892) | Harlan | Lamar | none | affirmed | |