| 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 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States from 1794 to 1799.[1] Case reports from other tribunals also appear in 3 U.S. (3 Dall.).
Not all of the cases reported in 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) are from the United States Supreme Court. Included are decisions from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania. Alexander J. Dallas, a Philadelphia lawyer and later United States Secretary of the Treasury, had been in the business of reporting local law cases for newspapers and periodicals. When the US Supreme Court sat in Philadelphia from 1791–1800, he collected their cases as well, and later began compiling his case reports in a bound volume which he called Reports of cases ruled and adjudged in the courts of Pennsylvania, before and since the Revolution.[2]
When the US Supreme Court along with the rest of the new federal government moved in 1791 from the former capital, New York City, to the nation's temporary capital in Philadelphia, Dallas was appointed the Supreme Court's first unofficial and unpaid Supreme Court Reporter. (Court reporters in that age received no salary, but were expected to profit from the publication and sale of their compiled decisions.) Dallas continued to collect and publish Pennsylvania and other decisions, adding federal Supreme Court cases to his reports. Dallas published four volumes of decisions during his tenure as Reporter, known as the Dallas Reports.
The Supreme Court moved to the new capital city of Washington D.C. in 1800. Dallas remained in Philadelphia; William Cranch then replaced him as Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
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"). As such, volumes 1–4 of United States Reports correspond to volumes 1–4 of Dallas Reports. The dual citation form of, for example, Hunter v. Fairfax's Devisee is 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 305 (1796).
The cases reported in 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) come from the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (Pa.), and the United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania (C.C.D. Pa.).
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).[3] 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 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) were decided, the Court comprised six of the following eleven justices at one time:
| Portrait | Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| original seat when the Court was established | (Acclamation) | – June 29, 1795 (Resigned) | ||||
| original seat when the Court was established | (Acclamation) | – March 4, 1791 (Resigned) | ||||
| original seat when the Court was established | (Acclamation) | – September 13, 1810 (Died) | ||||
| original seat when the Court was established | (Acclamation) | – August 21, 1798 (Died) | ||||
| original seat when the Court was established | (Acclamation) | – October 25, 1795 (Resigned) | ||||
| original seat when the Court was established | (Acclamation) | – October 20, 1799 | ||||
| John Rutledge (after Rutledge's first term on the Court) | (Acclamation) | – January 16, 1793 (Resigned) | ||||
| Thomas Johnson | (Acclamation) | – September 8, 1806 (Died) | ||||
| John Blair, Jr. | (Acclamation) | – June 19, 1811 (Died) | ||||
| John Rutledge (after Rutledge's second term on the Court) | (21–1) | – December 15, 1800 (Resigned) | ||||
| James Wilson | (Acclamation) | (Recess Appointment) – November 26, 1829 (Died) | ||||
See also: List of United States Supreme Court cases prior to the Marshall Court.
In Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 386 (1798), the Supreme Court decided four important points of constitutional law:
In Georgia v. Brailsford, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 1 (1794), is significant as the only reported jury trial held by the US Supreme Court. During the American Revolution, the state of Georgia passed a law that sequestered debts owed to British creditors. The Treaty of Paris, however, asserted the validity of debts held by creditors on both sides. The case was filed directly in the United States Supreme Court, rather than in a lower trial court, under the Supreme Court's constitutionally-defined original jurisdiction.
In Hollingsworth v. Virginia, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 378 (1798) the Court held the President of the United States has no formal role in the process of amending the United States Constitution, and that the Eleventh Amendment was binding on cases already pending before its ratification.
See also: United States district court.
See also: United States circuit court.
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.
Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.
See also: Jay Court, Rutledge Court and Ellsworth Court.
| Case | Page & year | Opinions of the Court | Lower court | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia v. Brailsford | 1 (1794) | Jay (charge to the jury) | jury verdict for defendants[4] | |
| Glass v. The Sloop Betsey | 6 (1794) | Jay | Reversed | |
| United States v. Hamilton | 17 (1795) | Wilson | certification | |
| Bingham v. Cabot | 19 (1795) | seriatim Paterson, Iredell, Wilson, Cushing | reversed | |
| United States v. Lawrence | 42 (1795) | per curiam | mandamus denied | |
| Penhallow v. Doane's Administrators | 54 (1795) | Cushing | reversed | |
| United States v. Peters | 121 (1795) | Rutledge | prohibition issued | |
| Talbot v. Janson | 133 (1795) | seriatim Paterson, Iredell | affirmed | |
| Hylton v. United States | 171 (1796) | seriatim Chase, Paterson, Iredell | affirmed | |
| Hills v. Ross | 184 (1796) | per curiam | continued | |
| McDonough v. Dannery | 188 (1796) | per curiam | affirmed | |
| Ware v. Hylton | 199 (1796) | seriatim Chase, Wilson, Cushing | reversed | |
| Geyer v. Michel | 285 (1796) | per curiam | affirmed | |
| United States v. La Vengeance | 297 (1796) | Ellsworth | affirmed | |
| Cotton v. Wallace | 302 (1796) | per curiam | mandate granted | |
| Hunter v. Fairfax's Devisee | 305 (1796) | per curiam | not indicated | continued |
| Arcambel v. Wiseman | 306 (1796) | per curiam | remittitur granted | |
| Moodie v. The Ship Alfred | 307 (1796) | per curiam | not indicated | affirmed |
| Olney v. Arnold | 308 (1796) | Ellsworth | affirmed | |
| Moodie v. The Ship Phoebe Anne | 319 (1796) | Ellsworth | affirmed | |
| Grayson v. Virginia | 320 (1796) | Ellsworth | subpoena granted | |
| Wiscart v. Dauchy | 321 (1796) | per curiam | affirmed | |
| Hills v. Ross | 331 (1796) | seriatim Ellsworth, Iredell, Chase | reversed | |
| Del Col v. Arnold | 333 (1796) | per curiam | affirmed | |
| Jennings v. The Brig Perseverance | 336 (1797) | seriatim Paterson, Chase | affirmed | |
| Huger v. South Carolina | 339 (1797) | seriatim Iredell, Chase | petition granted | |
| Clerke v. Harwood | 342 (1797) | per curiam | affirmed | |
| Brown v. Van Braam | 344 (1797) | seriatim Wilson, Paterson, Chase | affirmed | |
| Fenemore v. United States | 357 (1797) | seriatim Chase, Iredell, Cushing, Ellsworth, Paterson | affirmed | |
| Brown v. Barry | 365 (1797) | Ellsworth | affirmed | |
| Emory v. Grenough | 369 (1797) | per curiam | dismissed | |
| Hamilton v. Moore | 371 (1797) | per curiam | dismissed | |
| Hollingsworth v. Virginia | 378 (1798) | per curiam, and Chase | not indicated | dismissed |
| Bingham v. Cabot | 382 (1798) | per curiam | dismissed | |
| Jones v. Le Tombe | 384 (1798) | per curiam | rule made absolute | |
| Calder v. Bull | 386 (1798) | seriatim Chase, Paterson, Iredell, Cushing | affirmed | |
| Wilson v. Daniel | 401 (1798) | seriatim Ellsworth, Iredell, Chase | affirmed | |
| Dewhurst v. Coulthard | 409 (1799) | per curiam | dismissed | |
| Ex parte Hallowell | 410 (1799) | per curiam | Hallowell admitted to bar of Court | |
| Fowler v. Lindsey | 411 (1799) | seriatim Washington, Paterson, Cushing | rule discharged | |
| Clarke v. Russel | 415 (1799) | Ellsworth | reversed | |
| Sims' Lessee v. Irvine | 425 (1799) | seriatim Ellsworth, Iredell | affirmed | |
| Case | Page and year | Court |
|---|---|---|
| Respublica[5] v. Cobbett | 467 (Pa. 1798) | Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Anonymous | 477 (Pa. 1798) | |
| Camberling v. McCall | 477 (Pa. 1798) | Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Coxe v. McClenachan | 478 (Pa. 1798) | |
| Pemberton's Lessee v. Hicks | 479 (Pa. 1798) | |
| McKee's Lessee v. Pfout | 486 (Pa. 1798) | |
| Respublica v. Wray | 490 (Pa. 1799) | |
| Murgatroyd v. Crawford | 491 (Pa. 1799) | Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Breckbill v. Turnpike Company | 496 (Pa. 1799) | |
| Dallas v. Chaloner's Executors | 500 (Pa. 1799) | Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Wharton's Executors v. Fitzgerald | 503 (Pa. 1799) | Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Reed v. Ingraham | 505 (Pa. 1799) | |
| Peterson v. Willing | 506 (Pa. 1799) | |
| Roberts v. Wheelen | 506 (Pa. 1799) | Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Pollock v. Donaldson | 510 (C.C.D. Pa. 1799) | |
| Hurst v. Hurst | 512 (C.C.D. Pa. 1799) | United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania |
| United States v. Insurgents of Pennsylvania | 513 (C.C.D. Pa. 1799) | |
| United States v. Fries | 515 (C.C.D. Pa. 1799) | |