# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 169

This is a list of cases reported in volume 169 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1898.

## Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 169 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 169 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) |

## Notable Cases in 169 U.S.
### Holden v. Hardy

In Holden v. Hardy, 169 U.S. 366 (1898), the Supreme Court held that a limitation on working time for miners and smelters was constitutional. The decision stated that the Utah law was a legitimate exercise of the state's police power; that such a law is legitimate if there is indeed a rational basis, supported by facts, for the legislature to believe particular work conditions are dangerous.

### United States v. Wong Kim Ark

United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), is a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court held that "a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicil and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China", is a U.S. citizen. This is due to the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.'" This decision established an important precedent in the interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

## 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 169 U.S.

| Case Name | Page & year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
| Stuart v. Hayden | 1 (1898) | Harlan | none | none | 8th Cir. | affirmed |
| United States v. Passavant | 16 (1898) | Fuller | none | Brown | 2d Cir. | certification |
| Hetzel v. Baltimore & O.R.R. Co. | 26 (1898) | Harlan | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| In re Boardman ex rel. Durrant | 39 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | 9th Cir. | habeas corpus denied |
| Building & Loan Ass'n v. Price | 45 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | C.C.N.D. Tex. | reversed |
| Williams v. Paine | 55 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| Holder v. Aultman M. & Co. | 81 (1898) | Gray | none | none | C.C.E.D. Mich. | affirmed |
| Powers v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co. | 92 (1898) | Gray | none | none | C.C.D. Ky. | affirmed |
| Union M.L. Ins. Co. v. Kirchoff | 103 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | Ill. | dismissed |
| Wetmore v. Rymer | 115 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | C.C.E.D. Tenn. | reversed |
| Richardson v. Louisville & N.R.R. Co. | 128 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | Fla. | affirmed |
| Chicago et al. Ry. Co. v. Solan | 133 (1898) | Gray | none | none | Iowa | affirmed |
| Ritter v. Mutual L. Ins. Co. | 139 (1898) | Harlan | none | none | 3d Cir. | affirmed |
| Benjamin v. City of New Orleans | 161 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | 5th Cir. | dismissed |
| Cessna v. United States | 165 (1898) | Brewer | none | none | Ct. Priv. Land Cl. | affirmed |
| Baker v. Cummings | 189 (1898) | White | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| United States v. Klumpp | 209 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | 2d Cir. | reversed |
| Barrett v. United States I | 218 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | C.C.D.S.C. | affirmed |
| Barrett v. United States II | 231 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | W.D.S.C. | affirmed |
| Levis v. Kengla | 234 (1898) | Gray | none | none | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| Wetzel v. Minnesota et al. Co. | 237 (1898) | Brown | none | none | 8th Cir. | affirmed |
| Dull v. Blackman | 243 (1898) | Brewer | none | none | Iowa | affirmed |
| United States v. City of Louisville | 249 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Logan County v. United States | 255 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Thomas v. Gay | 264 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla. | reversed |
| Baker v. Grice | 284 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | C.C.N.D. Tex. | reversed |
| Willis v. Eastern T. & B. Co. | 295 (1898) | Gray | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| Richmond & A.R.R. Co. v. R.A. Patterson T. Co. | 311 (1898) | White | none | none | Va. | affirmed |
| United States v. Garlinger | 316 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | Ct. Cl. | reversed |
| Payne v. Robertson | 323 (1898) | White | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla. | affirmed |
| United States v. Eaton | 331 (1898) | White | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Beley v. Naphtaly | 353 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| Smith v. Naphtaly | 365 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| Holden v. Hardy | 366 (1898) | Brown | none | none | Utah | affirmed |
| Smithsonian Inst. v. Meech | 398 (1898) | Brewer | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| Brown v. Marion Nat'l Bank | 416 (1898) | Harlan | none | none | Ky. | reversed |
| Savings & L. Soc'y v. Multnomah Cnty. | 421 (1898) | Gray | none | none | C.C.D. Or. | affirmed |
| Central Nat'l Bank v. Stevens | 432 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | N.Y. | reversed |
| Smyth v. Ames | 466 (1898) | Harlan | none | none | C.C.D. Neb. | affirmed |
| Merritt v. Bowdoin Coll. | 551 (1898) | Harlan | none | none | C.C.N.D. Cal. | dismissed |
| Backus v. Fort St. U.D. Co. | 557 (1898) | Brewer | none | Harlan | Mich. | affirmed |
| Wilson v. North Carolina | 586 (1898) | Peckham | none | none | N.C. | dismissed |
| United States ex rel. Bernardin v. Butterworth | 600 (1898) | Shiras | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| McCormick H.M. Co. v. Aultman Co. | 606 (1898) | Brown | none | none | 6th Cir. | certification |
| Missouri et al. Ry. Co. v. Haber | 613 (1898) | Harlan | none | Brewer | Kan. | affirmed |
| Louisville & N.R.R. Co. v. Behlmer | 644 (1898) | Fuller | none | none | 4th Cir. | vacation denied |
| United States v. Wong Kim Ark | 649 (1898) | Gray | none | Fuller | C.C.N.D. Cal. | affirmed |