# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 78

This is a list of cases reported in volume 78 (11 Wall.) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1871, along with cases from 1867 and 1869.

## Nominative reports

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").

### John William Wallace

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, Ludlow v. Ramsey is 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 581 (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 78 U.S. (11 Wall.)

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 10 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 78 U.S. (11 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.

### Fluctuations in Supreme Court membership, 1864-1870

| Justice | Departure from the Court | Arrival on the Court | Number of active justices after his arrival or departure |
| Chase | - | 15 December 1864 | 10 (the then-current statutory number) |
| Catron | 30 May 1865 | - | 9 (one less than the then-current statutory number of 10) |
| Wayne | 5 July 1867 | - | 8 (one more than the then-current statutory number of 7) |
| Grier | 31 January 1870 | - | 7 (two less than the then-current statutory number of 9) |
| Strong | - | 14 March 1870 | 8 (one less than the then-current statutory number of 9) |
| Bradley | - | 23 March 1870 | 9 (the then-current statutory number) |
| 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) |
| 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 Case in 78 U.S. (11 Wall.)
### Virginia v. West Virginia

In Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 39 (1871), the Supreme Court held that when a governor has discretion in the conduct of an election, the legislature is bound by his actions and cannot undo the results based on fraud. The Court implicitly affirmed that the breakaway Virginia counties had received the necessary consent of both Virginia and the United States Congress to become a separate U.S. state, and explicitly held that the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson were part of the new State of West Virginia. Although the Court never directly ruled on the constitutionality of West Virginia's creation, decisions such as those in Virginia v. West Virginia led to a de facto recognition of the state which is now unassailable.

## Citation style

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

## List of cases in 78 U.S. (11 Wall.)

| Case Name | Page & year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
| New England M.M. Insurance Company v. Dunham | 1 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | C.C.D. Mass. | certification |
| Parmelee v. Lawrence | 36 (1871) | Nelson | none | none | Ill. | dismissed |
| Virginia v. West Virginia | 39 (1871) | Miller | none | Davis | original | dismissed |
| Morgan v. Thornhill | 65 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | C.C.D. La. | dismissed |
| The Protector | 82 (1871) | Nelson | none | Swayne | C.C.S.D. Ala. | dismissed |
| United States v. Tynen | 88 (1871) | Field | none | none | D. Cal. | certification |
| City of New Albany v. Burke | 96 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. Ind. | reversed |
| Dows v. City of Chicago | 108 (1871) | Field | none | none | C.C.N.D. Ill. | affirmed |
| Collector v. Day | 113 (1871) | Nelson | none | Bradley | C.C.D. Mass. | affirmed |
| Western Transportation Company v. Downer | 129 (1871) | Field | none | none | C.C.N.D. Ill. | reversed |
| Amy v. Des Moines County | 136 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | C.C.D. Iowa | reversed |
| Smith v. Sac County | 139 (1871) | Miller | none | Clifford | C.C.D. Iowa | affirmed |
| The Sapphire | 164 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | C.C.D. Cal. | reversed |
| Susquehanna et al. Company v. Blatchford | 172 (1871) | Field | none | none | C.C.W.D. Pa. | reversed |
| United States v. O'Keefe | 178 (1871) | Davis | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Leon v. Galceran | 185 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | La. | affirmed |
| Generes v. Campbell | 193 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | C.C.D. La. | affirmed |
| Case v. Terrell | 199 (1871) | Miller | none | none | C.C.D. La. | reversed |
| Phoenix Insurance Company v. King's County | 204 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | dismissed |
| Germania et al. Company v. Francis | 210 (1871) | Davis | none | none | S.D. Miss. | reversed |
| May v. Le Claire | 217 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | C.C.D. Iowa | reversed |
| The Fannie | 238 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | affirmed |
| Levy v. Stewart | 244 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | C.C.D. La. | affirmed |
| Garnett v. United States | 256 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | Sup. Ct. D.C. | reversed |
| McVeigh v. United States | 259 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | C.C.D. Va. | reversed |
| Miller v. United States | 268 (1871) | Strong | none | Field; Davis | C.C.E.D. Mich. | affirmed |
| Tyler v. Defrees | 331 (1871) | Miller | none | Field | Sup. Ct. D.C. | affirmed |
| The Distilled Spirits | 356 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | C.C.D. Mass. | affirmed |
| First National Bank v. Lanier | 369 (1871) | Davis | none | none | C.C.D. Ind. | affirmed |
| Dewing v. Sears | 379 (1871) | Strong | none | none | Mass. Super. Ct. | reversed |
| Rankin v. State | 380 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | Tenn. | dismissed |
| Edmondson v. Bloomshire | 382 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | C.C.S.D. Ohio | affirmed |
| Bank of Leavenworth v. Hunt's Assignee | 391 (1871) | Field | none | none | C.C.D. Kan. | affirmed |
| Missouri v. Kentucky | 395 (1871) | Davis | none | none | original | dismissed |
| The Montello | 411 (1871) | Field | none | none | C.C.D. Wis. | reversed |
| Moncure v. Zunts | 416 (1871) | Miller | none | none | C.C.D. La. | reversed |
| City of St. Louis v. Wiggins F. Company | 423 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | C.C.D. Mo. | affirmed |
| United States v. Howell | 432 (1871) | Miller | none | none | C.C.D. Cal. | certification |
| Home Insurance Company v. Weide | 438 (1871) | Davis | none | none | C.C.D. Minn. | reversed |
| Meader v. Norton | 442 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | C.C.D. Cal. | affirmed |
| Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad v. Cowdrey | 459 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | C.C.E.D. Tex. | affirmed |
| Forsyth v. Woods | 484 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. Mo. | affirmed |
| Eureka Company v. Bailey Company | 488 (1871) | Miller | none | none | C.C.D. Mass. | affirmed |
| Stewart v. Kahn | 493 (1871) | Swayne | none | none | La. | reversed |
| United States v. Wiley | 508 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. Va. | reversed |
| Seymour v. Osborne | 516 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | C.C.N.D.N.Y. | reversed |
| Halliday v. Hamilton | 560 (1871) | Davis | none | none | C.C.S.D. Ill. | affirmed |
| Steinbach v. Stewart | 566 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. Cal. | affirmed |
| Ludlow v. Ramsey | 581 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | C.C.E.D. Tenn. | reversed |
| Reed v. United States | 591 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | Ct. Cl. | reversed |
| Dunphy v. Kleinsmith | 610 (1871) | Bradley | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Mont. | reversed |
| The Cherokee Tobacco | 616 (1871) | Swayne | none | Bradley | W.D. Ark. | affirmed |
| Bank v. New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad Company | 624 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. La. | affirmed |
| United States v. Lynde | 632 (1871) | Bradley | none | Clifford | D. La. | affirmed |
| United States v. Wright | 648 (1871) | Davis | none | none | C.C.M.D. Tenn. | reversed |
| Mann v. Rock Island Bank | 650 (1871) | Miller | none | none | C.C.D. Wis. | affirmed |
| Henderson's Tobacco | 652 (1871) | Strong | none | none | C.C.D. Iowa | reversed |
| Cook v. Burnley I | 659 (1867) | Nelson | none | none | E.D. Tex. | affirmed |
| Cook v. Burnley II | 672 (1871) | Clifford | none | none | E.D. Tex. | dismissed |
| Whiteley v. Kirby | 678 (1869) | Nelson | none | none | C.C.S.D. Ohio | affirmed |
| Legal Tender Cases | 682 (1871) | per curiam | none | none | not indicated | Act upheld |