List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 141

This is a list of cases reported in volume 141 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1891.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 141 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. Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices.
When the cases in volume 141 U.S. were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

Portrait	Justice	Office	Home State	Succeeded	Date confirmed by the Senate	Tenure on Supreme Court
	Melville Fuller	Chief Justice	Illinois	Morrison Waite		– July 4, 1910
	Stephen Johnson Field	Associate Justice	California	newly created seat		– December 1, 1897
	Joseph P. Bradley	Associate Justice	New Jersey	newly created seat		– January 22, 1892
	John Marshall Harlan	Associate Justice	Kentucky	David Davis		– October 14, 1911
	Horace Gray	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	Nathan Clifford		– September 15, 1902
	Samuel Blatchford	Associate Justice	New York	Ward Hunt		– July 7, 1893
	Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar	Associate Justice	Mississippi	William Burnham Woods		– January 23, 1893
	David Josiah Brewer	Associate Justice	Kansas	Stanley Matthews		– March 28, 1910
	Henry Billings Brown	Associate Justice	Michigan	Samuel Freeman Miller		– May 28, 1906

Notable court cases

''Marshall v. Holmes''

In Marshall v. Holmes,, the Supreme Court held it unconscionable to allow a state court's decision to stand that had been based on documents later exposed as forgeries. It permitted a federal case seeking to set that verdict aside to go forward. Other courts noted shortly afterwards that the invocation of unconscionability seemed to conflict with the Court's holding 13 years earlier in United States v. Throckmorton that equitable relief could not be granted in cases of intrinsic fraud. The Court was asked later in Graver v. Faurot to reconcile the two cases, but declined. As of the early 21st century this issue remains unresolved; some state courts and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals have held that Marshall overruled Throckmorton while others have reaffirmed the latter case.

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 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. 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. The change resulted in an immediate reduction in the Supreme Court's workload.
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

Case Name	Page and year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
In re Garnett		Bradley	none	none	S.D. Ga.	prohibition denied
Pullman's Palace Car Company v. Pennsylvania		Gray	none	Bradley	Pa.	affirmed
Pullman's Palace Car Company v. Hayward		Gray	none	none	C.C.D. Kan.	affirmed
Massachusetts v. Western Union Telegraph Company		Gray	none	none	C.C.D. Mass.	reversed
Crutcher v. Kentucky		Bradley	none	none	Ky.	reversed
Voight v. Wright		Bradley	none	none	Va. Corp. Ct.	reversed
Stein v. Bienville Water Supply Company		Harlan	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ala.	affirmed
Parker v. Ormsby		Harlan	none	none	C.C.D. Neb.	reversed
Carpenter v. Strange		Fuller	none	none	Tenn.	reversed
Evans v. State Bank		Fuller	none	none	C.C.E.D. La.	affirmed
In re Mayfield		Brown	none	none	W.D. Ark.	habeas corpus granted
Reynolds v. Burns		Brown	none	none	C.C.E.D. Ark.	dismissed
Denny v. Pironi		Brown	none	none	C.C.N.D. Tex.	reversed
St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company v. McBride		Brewer	none	none	C.C.W.D. Ark.	affirmed
Briggs v. Spaulding		Fuller	none	Gray	C.C.N.D.N.Y.	affirmed
McAllister v. United States		Harlan	none	Field	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Wingard v. United States		Harlan	none	Field	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Gorman v. Havird		Brown	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Idaho	dismissed
Caldwell v. Texas		Fuller	none	none	Tex. Civ. App.	dismissed
United States v. Griffith		Fuller	none	none	Ct. Cl.	dismissed
Schutz v. Jordan		Brewer	none	none	C.C.S.D.N.Y.	affirmed
Gregory Consolidated Mining Company v. Starr		Brewer	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Mont.	multiple
Pacific National Bank v. Eaton		Bradley	none	none	Mass.	reversed
Thayer v. Butler		Bradley	none	none	C.C.D. Mass.	affirmed
Butler v. Eaton		Bradley	none	none	C.C.D. Mass.	reversed
Tuskaloosa Northern Railway Company v. Gude		per curiam	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ala.	dismissed
Williams v. Passumpsic Savings Bank		Fuller	none	none	C.C.N.D. Fla.	dismissed
Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Botsford		Gray	none	Brewer	C.C.D. Ind.	affirmed
Griswold v. Hazard		Harlan	none	Brewer	C.C.D.R.I.	multiple
Potter v. Couch		Gray	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ill.	affirmed
In re Green		Field	none	none	Colo.	mandamus denied
McNulta v. Lochridge		Brown	none	none	Ill.	affirmed
Magowan v. New York Belting and Packing Company		Blatchford	none	none	C.C.D.N.J.	affirmed
Gage v. Bani		Harlan	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ill.	affirmed
United States v. Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company		Harlan	none	none	C.C.D. Kan.	reversed
Fowler v. Equitable Trust Company I		Harlan	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ill.	reversed
Fowler v. Equitable Trust Company II		Harlan	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ill.	reversed
Fowler v. Equitable Trust Company III		Harlan	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ill.	affirmed
Hickman v. City of Ft. Scott		Harlan	none	none	C.C.D. Kan.	affirmed
McClain v. Ortmayer		Brown	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ill.	affirmed
McLean v. Clapp		Brewer	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ill.	affirmed
Kneeland v. Luce I		Brewer	none	none	C.C.D. Ind.	affirmed
Crosby Steam Gage and Valve Company v. Consolidated Safety Valve Company		Blatchford	none	none	C.C.D. Mass.	affirmed
McCreary v. Pennsylvania Canal Company		Brown	none	none	C.C.E.D. Pa.	affirmed
American Net and Twine Company v. Worthington		Brown	none	none	C.C.D. Mass.	reversed
Leadville Coal Company v. McCreery		Brewer	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ohio	affirmed
Davis v. Patrick		Brewer	none	none	C.C.D. Neb.	affirmed
Kneeland v. Luce II		Blatchford	none	none	C.C.D. Ind.	multiple
Seitz v. Brewers' Refrigerating Machine Company		Fuller	none	none	C.C.E.D.N.Y.	affirmed
Metropolitan National Bank v. Claggett		Lamar	none	none	N.Y. Sup. Ct.	affirmed
Cross v. Allen		Lamar	none	none	C.C.D. Or.	affirmed
Adams v. Bellaire Stamping Company		Field	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ohio	affirmed
Olcott v. Headrick		Blatchford	none	none	C.C.E.D. Tenn.	affirmed
Rogers v. United States		Blatchford	none	none	C.C.S.D.N.Y.	affirmed
Rector v. Lipscomb		Brewer	none	none	C.C.E.D. Ark.	dismissed
Patent Clothing Company, Ltd. v. Glover		Brewer	none	none	C.C.S.D.N.Y.	affirmed
Fire Insurance Association, Ltd. v. Wickham		Brown	none	none	C.C.E.D. Mich.	affirmed
In re Lau Ow Bew		Fuller	none	none	9th Cir.	certiorari granted
Marshall v. Holmes		Harlan	none	none	La. Ct. App.	reversed
Johnson v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company		Blatchford	none	Lamar	C.C.E.D. Ark.	multiple
Moline Plow Company v. Webb		Harlan	none	none	C.C.W.D. Tex.	reversed
Willcox and Gibbs Sewing Machine Company v. Ewing		Harlan	none	none	C.C.E.D. Pa.	reversed
Craig v. Continental Insurance Company		Blatchford	none	none	C.C.E.D. Mich.	affirmed
Thompson v. Barer		Harlan	none	none	C.C.N.D. Tex.	affirmed
Smyth v. New Orleans Canal and Banking Company		Field	none	none	C.C.E.D. La.	affirmed
McLish v. Roff		Lamar	none	none	U.S. Ct. Indian Terr.	dismissed
Ferry v. King County I		Fuller	none	none	Wash.	dismissed
Ferry v. King County II		Fuller	none	none	Wash.	dismissed
Myers v. Groom Shovel Company		Fuller	none	none	C.C.W.D. Pa.	affirmed
Henderson Bridge Company v. City of Henderson		Blatchford	none	none	Ky.	dismissed
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company v. Roberts		Lamar	none	none	C.C.D. Minn.	dismissed
Singer Manufacturing Company v. Wright		Field	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ga.	dismissed