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. 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 169 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
	John Marshall Harlan	Associate Justice	Kentucky	David Davis		– October 14, 1911
	Horace Gray	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	Nathan Clifford		– September 15, 1902
	David Josiah Brewer	Associate Justice	Kansas	Stanley Matthews		– March 28, 1910
	Henry Billings Brown	Associate Justice	Michigan	Samuel Freeman Miller		– May 28, 1906
	George Shiras Jr.	Associate Justice	Pennsylvania	Joseph P. Bradley		– February 23, 1903
	Edward Douglass White	Associate Justice	Louisiana	Samuel Blatchford		– December 18, 1910
	Rufus W. Peckham	Associate Justice	New York	Howell Edmunds Jackson		– October 24, 1909
	Joseph McKenna	Associate Justice	California	Stephen Johnson Field		– January 5, 1925

Notable Cases in 169 U.S.

''Holden v. Hardy''

In Holden v. Hardy,, 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,, 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 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.
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	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
Stuart v. Hayden		Harlan	none	none	8th Cir.	affirmed
United States v. Passavant		Fuller	none	Brown	2d Cir.	certification
Hetzel v. Baltimore & O.R.R. Co.		Harlan	none	none	D.C. Cir.	reversed
In re Boardman ex rel. Durrant		Fuller	none	none	9th Cir.	habeas corpus denied
Building & Loan Ass'n v. Price		Peckham	none	none	C.C.N.D. Tex.	reversed
Williams v. Paine		Peckham	none	none	D.C. Cir.	affirmed
Holder v. Aultman M. & Co.		Gray	none	none	C.C.E.D. Mich.	affirmed
Powers v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co.		Gray	none	none	C.C.D. Ky.	affirmed
Union M.L. Ins. Co. v. Kirchoff		Fuller	none	none	Ill.	dismissed
Wetmore v. Rymer		Shiras	none	none	C.C.E.D. Tenn.	reversed
Richardson v. Louisville & N.R.R. Co.		Fuller	none	none	Fla.	affirmed
Chicago et al. Ry. Co. v. Solan		Gray	none	none	Iowa	affirmed
Ritter v. Mutual L. Ins. Co.		Harlan	none	none	3d Cir.	affirmed
Benjamin v. City of New Orleans		Fuller	none	none	5th Cir.	dismissed
Cessna v. United States		Brewer	none	none	Ct. Priv. Land Cl.	affirmed
Baker v. Cummings		White	none	none	D.C. Cir.	reversed
United States v. Klumpp		Fuller	none	none	2d Cir.	reversed
Barrett v. United States I		Fuller	none	none	C.C.D.S.C.	affirmed
Barrett v. United States II		Fuller	none	none	W.D.S.C.	affirmed
Levis v. Kengla		Gray	none	none	D.C. Cir.	affirmed
Wetzel v. Minnesota et al. Co.		Brown	none	none	8th Cir.	affirmed
Dull v. Blackman		Brewer	none	none	Iowa	affirmed
United States v. City of Louisville		Peckham	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Logan County v. United States		Peckham	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Thomas v. Gay		Shiras	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla.	reversed
Baker v. Grice		Peckham	none	none	C.C.N.D. Tex.	reversed
Willis v. Eastern T. & B. Co.		Gray	none	none	D.C. Cir.	reversed
Richmond & A.R.R. Co. v. R.A. Patterson T. Co.		White	none	none	Va.	affirmed
United States v. Garlinger		Shiras	none	none	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Payne v. Robertson		White	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla.	affirmed
United States v. Eaton		White	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Beley v. Naphtaly		Peckham	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
Smith v. Naphtaly		Peckham	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
Holden v. Hardy		Brown	none	none	Utah	affirmed
Smithsonian Inst. v. Meech		Brewer	none	none	D.C. Cir.	reversed
Brown v. Marion Nat'l Bank		Harlan	none	none	Ky.	reversed
Savings & L. Soc'y v. Multnomah Cnty.		Gray	none	none	C.C.D. Or.	affirmed
Central Nat'l Bank v. Stevens		Shiras	none	none	N.Y.	reversed
Smyth v. Ames		Harlan	none	none	C.C.D. Neb.	affirmed
Merritt v. Bowdoin Coll.		Harlan	none	none	C.C.N.D. Cal.	dismissed
Backus v. Fort St. U.D. Co.		Brewer	none	Harlan	Mich.	affirmed
Wilson v. North Carolina		Peckham	none	none	N.C.	dismissed
United States ex rel. Bernardin v. Butterworth		Shiras	none	none	D.C. Cir.	reversed
McCormick H.M. Co. v. Aultman Co.		Brown	none	none	6th Cir.	certification
Missouri et al. Ry. Co. v. Haber		Harlan	none	Brewer	Kan.	affirmed
Louisville & N.R.R. Co. v. Behlmer		Fuller	none	none	4th Cir.	vacation denied
United States v. Wong Kim Ark		Gray	none	Fuller	C.C.N.D. Cal.	affirmed