# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 248

This is a list of cases reported in volume 248 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1918 and 1919.

## Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 248 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 248 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:
| Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
| Edward Douglass White | Chief Justice | Louisiana | Melville Fuller | December 12, 1910 (Acclamation) | December 19, 1910 – May 19, 1921 (Died) |
| Joseph McKenna | Associate Justice | California | Stephen Johnson Field | January 21, 1898 (Acclamation) | January 26, 1898 – January 5, 1925 (Retired) |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Horace Gray | December 4, 1902 (Acclamation) | December 8, 1902 – January 12, 1932 (Retired) |
| William R. Day | Associate Justice | Ohio | George Shiras Jr. | February 23, 1903 (Acclamation) | March 2, 1903 – November 13, 1922 (Retired) |
| Willis Van Devanter | Associate Justice | Wyoming | Edward Douglass White (as Associate Justice) | December 15, 1910 (Acclamation) | January 3, 1911 – June 2, 1937 (Retired) |
| Mahlon Pitney | Associate Justice | New Jersey | John Marshall Harlan | March 13, 1912 (50–26) | March 18, 1912 – December 31, 1922 (Resigned) |
| James Clark McReynolds | Associate Justice | Tennessee | Horace Harmon Lurton | August 29, 1914 (44–6) | October 12, 1914 – January 31, 1941 (Retired) |
| Louis Brandeis | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Joseph Rucker Lamar | June 1, 1916 (47–22) | June 5, 1916 – February 13, 1939 (Retired) |
| John Hessin Clarke | Associate Justice | Ohio | Charles Evans Hughes | July 24, 1916 (Acclamation) | October 9, 1916 – September 18, 1922 (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. On January 1, 1912, the effective date of the Judicial Code of 1911, the old Circuit Courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. District Courts.
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
* "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.,"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 248 U.S.

| Case Name | Page and year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition of case |
| Pittsburgh Melting Company v. Totten | 1 (1918) | Day | none | none | 3d Cir. | affirmed |
| Watts, Watts and Company, Ltd. v. v. Unione Austriaca di Navigazione | 9 (1918) | Brandeis | none | none | 2d Cir. | reversed |
| King v. Putnam Investment Company | 23 (1918) | White | none | none | Kan. | dismissed |
| Lay v. Lay | 24 (1918) | White | none | none | Miss. | affirmed |
| Georgia v. Cincinnati Southern Railway Company | 26 (1918) | Holmes | none | none | original | dismissed |
| Detroit and Mackinac Railway Company v. Fletcher Paper Company | 30 (1918) | Holmes | none | none | Mich. | affirmed |
| Palmer v. Ohio | 32 (1918) | Clarke | none | none | Ohio | dismissed |
| Orr v. Allen | 35 (1918) | White | none | none | S.D. Ohio | affirmed |
| E.W. Bliss Company v. United States | 37 (1918) | McKenna | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Van Dyke v. Eastern Railroad Company | 49 (1918) | McKenna | none | none | Ariz. | affirmed |
| Buckeye Powder Company v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours Powder Company | 55 (1918) | Holmes | none | none | 3d Cir. | affirmed |
| Watters v. Michigan | 65 (1918) | Holmes | none | none | Mich. | affirmed |
| Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Public Service Commission of Missouri | 67 (1918) | Holmes | none | none | Mo. | reversed |
| Gulf Oil Corporation v. Lewellyn | 71 (1918) | Holmes | none | none | 3d Cir. | reversed |
| Sterrett v. Second National Bank of Cincinnati | 73 (1918) | Day | none | none | 6th Cir. | affirmed |
| Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States | 78 (1918) | VanDevanter | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| United Drug Company v. Theodore Rectanus Company | 90 (1918) | Pitney | none | none | 6th Cir. | affirmed |
| Ruddy v. Rossi | 104 (1918) | McReynolds | Holmes | none | Idaho | reversed |
| Payne v. Kansas ex rel. Brewster | 112 (1918) | McReynolds | none | none | Kan. | affirmed |
| Nicoulin v. O'Brien | 113 (1918) | McReynolds | none | none | Ky. | affirmed |
| Iowa v. Slimmer | 115 (1918) | Brandeis | none | none | original | motion to file denied |
| Tempel v. United States | 121 (1918) | Brandeis | none | none | N.D. Ill. | reversed |
| United States v. Spearin | 132 (1918) | Brandeis | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Luckenbach v. W.J. McCahan Sugar Refining Company | 139 (1918) | Brandeis | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| MacMath v. United States | 151 (1918) | Brandeis | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Petrie v. Nampa and Meridian Irrigation District | 154 (1918) | Clarke | none | none | Idaho | dismissed |
| Pure Oil Company v. Minnesota | 158 (1918) | Clarke | none | none | Minn. | affirmed |
| Wells Fargo and Company v. Nevada | 165 (1918) | VanDevanter | none | none | Nev. | affirmed |
| Campbell v. Wadsworth | 169 (1918) | Clarke | none | none | Okla. | reversed |
| Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company v. Arctic Iron Company | 178 (1918) | White | none | Clarke | 6th Cir. | dismissed |
| Dillon v. Strathearn Steamship Company | 182 (1918) | Day | none | none | 5th Cir. | dismissed |
| Sandberg v. McDonald | 185 (1918) | Day | none | McKenna | 5th Cir. | affirmed |
| Neilson v. Rhine Shipping Company | 205 (1918) | Day | none | McKenna | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| International News Service v. Associated Press | 215 (1918) | Pitney | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Farson Son and Company v. Bird | 268 (1919) | White | none | none | Ala. | dismissed |
| Andrews v. Virginian Railway Company | 272 (1919) | White | none | none | Va. Cir. Ct. | dismissed |
| Missouri Pacific Railroad Company v. Kansas | 276 (1919) | White | none | none | Kan. | affirmed |
| Weigle v. Curtice Brothers Company | 285 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | W.D. Wis. | reversed |
| Flexner v. Farson | 289 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | Ill. | affirmed |
| Englewood v. Denver and South Platte Railway Company | 294 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | Colo. | dismissed |
| Hebe Company v. Shaw | 297 (1919) | Holmes | none | Day | S.D. Ohio | affirmed |
| Union Fish Company v. Erickson | 308 (1919) | Day | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| Fisher v. Rule | 314 (1919) | VanDevanter | none | none | 8th Cir. | affirmed |
| Danciger v. Cooley | 319 (1919) | VanDevanter | none | none | Kan. | affirmed |
| Leary v. City of Jersey City | 328 (1919) | Pitney | none | none | 3d Cir. | affirmed |
| Guerini Stone Company v. P.J. Carlin Construction Company | 334 (1919) | Pitney | none | none | 1st Cir. | reversed |
| United States v. Comyns | 349 (1919) | Pitney | none | none | W.D. Wash. | reversed |
| Turner v. United States | 354 (1919) | Brandeis | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company v. Maucher | 359 (1919) | Brandeis | none | none | Neb. | dismissed |
| Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company v. Sealy | 363 (1919) | Brandeis | none | none | Kan. | dismissed |
| Merchants Exchange of St. Louis v. Missouri ex rel. Barker | 365 (1919) | Brandeis | none | none | Mo. | affirmed |
| Erie Railroad Company v. Hamilton | 369 (1919) | Clarke | none | none | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | dismissed |
| Union Dry Goods Company v. Georgia Public Service Corporation | 372 (1919) | Clarke | none | none | Ga. | affirmed |
| Allanwilde Transport Corporation v. Vacuum Oil Company | 377 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | 3d Cir. | certification |
| International Paper Company v. The Gracie D. Chambers | 387 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Standard Varnish Works v. Steamship "Bris | 392 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | 2d Cir. | certification |
| Fink v. Muskogee County | 399 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | Okla. | affirmed |
| Cochnower v. United States | 405 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | Ct. Cl. | reversed |
| Fullinwider v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company | 409 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| Cordova v. Grant | 413 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | W.D. Tex. | dismissed |
| United States v. Hill | 420 (1919) | Day | none | McReynolds | S.D.W. Va. | reversed |
| Detroit United Railway Company v. City of Detroit | 429 (1919) | Day | none | Clarke | E.D. Mich. | reversed |
| Southern Pacific Railroad Company v. Stewart | 446 (1919) | McReynolds | none | none | 9th Cir. | reversed |
| Cohn v. Malone | 450 (1919) | McReynolds | none | none | 5th Cir. | affirmed |
| Cavanaugh v. Looney | 453 (1919) | McReynolds | none | none | N.D. Tex. | affirmed |
| Coon v. Kennedy | 457 (1919) | McReynolds | none | none | N.J. | dismissed |
| J. Homer Fritch, Inc. v. United States | 458 (1919) | White | none | none | 9th Cir. | reversed |
| La Tourette v. McMaster | 465 (1919) | McKenna | none | none | S.C. | affirmed |
| Postal Telegraph Cable Company v. Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Company | 471 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | multiple | affirmed |
| Bank of California, N.A. v. Richardson | 476 (1919) | White | none | Pitney | Cal. | reversed |
| Bank of California, N.A. v. Roberts | 497 (1919) | per curiam | none | none | Cal. | reversed |
| Pierce Oil Corporation v. City of Hope | 498 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | Ark. | affirmed |
| Mount Saint Mary's Cemetery Association v. Mullins | 501 (1919) | Day | none | none | Mo. | affirmed |
| United States v. New Orleans Pacific Railway Company | 507 (1919) | VanDevanter | none | none | 5th Cir. | multiple |
| Oelwerke Teutonia v. Erlanger | 521 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | Phil. | affirmed |
| Central of Georgia Railway Company v. Wright | 525 (1919) | Holmes | none | none | Ga. | reversed |