# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 172

This is a list of cases reported in volume 172 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1898 and 1899.

## Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 172 U.S.

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).
When the cases in volume 172 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:
| Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
| Melville Fuller | Chief Justice | Illinois | Morrison Waite | July 20, 1888 (41–20) | October 8, 1888 – July 4, 1910 (Died) |
| John Marshall Harlan | Associate Justice | Kentucky | David Davis | November 29, 1877 (Acclamation) | December 10, 1877 – October 14, 1911 (Died) |
| Horace Gray | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Nathan Clifford | December 20, 1881 (51–5) | January 9, 1882 – September 15, 1902 (Died) |
| David Josiah Brewer | Associate Justice | Kansas | Stanley Matthews | December 18, 1889 (53–11) | January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1910 (Died) |
| Henry Billings Brown | Associate Justice | Michigan | Samuel Freeman Miller | December 29, 1890 (Acclamation) | January 5, 1891 – May 28, 1906 (Retired) |
| George Shiras Jr. | Associate Justice | Pennsylvania | Joseph P. Bradley | July 26, 1892 (Acclamation) | October 10, 1892 – February 23, 1903 (Retired) |
| Edward Douglass White | Associate Justice | Louisiana | Samuel Blatchford | February 19, 1894 (Acclamation) | March 12, 1894 – December 18, 1910 (Continued as chief justice) |
| Rufus W. Peckham | Associate Justice | New York | Howell Edmunds Jackson | December 9, 1895 (Acclamation) | January 6, 1896 – October 24, 1909 (Died) |
| Joseph McKenna | Associate Justice | California | Stephen Johnson Field | January 21, 1898 (Acclamation) | January 26, 1898 – January 5, 1925 (Retired) |

## 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.
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.
Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.
* "# Cir." = United States Court of Appeals
** e.g., "3d Cir." = United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
* "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 volume 172 U.S.

| Case Name | Page and year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
| City of Walla Walla v. Walla Walla Water Company | 1 (1898) | Brown | none | none | C.C.D. Wash. | affirmed |
| Andersen v. Treat | 24 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | E.D. Va. | affirmed |
| Pittsburgh Railway Company v. Board of Public Works | 32 (1898) | Gray | none | none | C.C.D.W. Va. | affirmed |
| United States v. Wardwell | 48 (1898) | Brewer | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company v. Patten Paper Company | 58 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | Wis. | reversed |
| Meyer v. City of Richmond | 82 (1898) | McKenna | none | Fuller | Va. | affirmed |
| McCullough v. Virginia | 102 (1898) | Brewer | none | Peckham | Va. | reversed |
| United States v. Ranlett | 133 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | 5th Cir. | reversed |
| Harkrader v. Wadley | 148 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | C.C.W.D. Va. | reversed |
| New Mexico v. United States Trust Company | 171 (1898) | McKenna | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. N.M. | affirmed |
| The Elfrida | 186 (1898) | Brown | none | none | 5th Cir. | reversed |
| United States v. Loughrey | 206 (1898) | Brown | none | White | 7th Cir. | affirmed |
| Grant v. Buckner | 232 (1898) | Brewer | none | none | La. | affirmed |
| Blake v. McClung | 239 (1898) | Harlan | none | Brewer | Tenn. | multiple |
| Village of Norwood v. Baker | 269 (1898) | Harlan | none | Brewer | C.C.S.D. Ohio | affirmed |
| Winston v. United States | 303 (1899) | Gray | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad Company v. City of New Whatcom | 314 (1899) | Brewer | none | none | Wash. | affirmed |
| Bellingham Bay Improvement Company v. City of New Whatcom | 320 (1899) | Brewer | none | none | Wash. | affirmed |
| United States v. Bliss | 321 (1899) | Brewer | none | none | Ct. Cl. | reversed |
| United States v. Ingram | 327 (1899) | Brewer | none | none | Ct. Cl. | reversed |
| Clark v. City of Kansas City | 334 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | Kan. | dismissed |
| United States v. Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel Company | 339 (1899) | Peckham | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Scott v. United States | 343 (1899) | Peckham | none | none | C.C.S.D.N.Y. | affirmed |
| Missouri, Kansas and Texas Trust Company v. Krumseig | 351 (1899) | Shiras | none | none | 8th Cir. | affirmed |
| Washington Market Company v. District of Columbia | 361 (1899) | White | none | none | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| Simpson v. United States | 372 (1899) | White | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Home for Incurables v. Colville | 383 (1899) | White | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| Sonnentheil v. Christian Moerlein Brewing Company | 401 (1899) | Brown | none | none | 5th Cir. | affirmed |
| Utter v. Franklin | 416 (1899) | Brown | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Ariz. | reversed |
| Capital National Bank v. First National Bank | 425 (1899) | Fuller | none | none | Neb. | dismissed |
| Capital National Bank v. Coldwater National Bank | 434 (1899) | Fuller | none | none | Neb. | dismissed |
| Keck v. United States | 434 (1899) | White | none | Brown | E.D. Pa. | reversed |
| Chappell Chemical and Fertilizer Company v. Sulphur Mines Company I | 465 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | Md. | dismissed |
| Chappell Chemical and Fertilizer Company v. Sulphur Mines Company II | 472 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | Md. | dismissed |
| Chappell Chemical and Fertilizer Company v. Sulphur Mines Company III | 474 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | Md. | affirmed |
| Columbia Water Power Company v. Columbia Electric Street Railway Light and Power Company | 475 (1899) | Brown | none | none | S.C. | affirmed |
| Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad v. Long Island Loan and Trust Company | 493 (1899) | Harlan | none | none | Ohio | affirmed |
| Fitts v. McGhee | 516 (1899) | Harlan | none | none | C.C.N.D. Ala. | reversed |
| Washington Gas Light Company v. Lansden | 534 (1899) | Peckham | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| Orient Insurance Company v. Daggs | 557 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | Mo. | affirmed |
| United States v. Harsha | 567 (1899) | Gray | none | none | 6th Cir. | certification |
| First National Bank v. Anderson | 573 (1899) | Fuller | none | none | N.D. | affirmed |
| United States v. Duell | 576 (1899) | Fuller | none | none | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| Northern Pacific Railroad Company v. Myers | 589 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Spratley | 602 (1899) | Peckham | none | none | Tenn. | affirmed |
| Hoeninghaus v. United States | 622 (1899) | Shiras | none | none | 2d Cir. | certification |
| Marshall v. Burtis | 630 (1899) | McKenna | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Ariz. | affirmed |
| McQuade v. City of Trenton | 636 (1899) | Brown | none | none | N.J. | dismissed |