List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 170

This is a list of cases reported in volume 170 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 170 U.S.

The Supreme Court is established by Article Three of [the United States Constitution|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 170 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 Case in 170 U.S.

''Williams v. Mississippi''

In Williams v. Mississippi,, the Supreme Court upheld provisions of the 1890 Mississippi constitution and its statutes that set requirements for voter registration, including poll tax, literacy tests, the grandfather clause, and the requirement that only registered voters could serve on juries. The plaintiff, Henry Williams, claimed that Mississippi’s voting laws were upheld with the intent to disenfranchise African Americans, thus violating the Fourteenth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court did not find discrimination in the state's laws because, even though the laws made discrimination possible, the laws themselves did not on the face discriminate against African Americans. The court found that any discrimination toward African Americans was performed by the administrative officers enforcing the law and that there was no judicial remedy for this kind of discrimination.

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 170 U.S.

Case Name	Page & year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
New York Indians v. United States I		Brown	none	none	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Leyson v. Davis		Fuller	none	none	Mont.	dismissed
Budzisz v. Illinois Steel Co.		Shiras	none	none	C.C.E.D. Wis.	dismissed
Parsons v. District of Columbia		Shiras	none	none	D.C. Cir.	affirmed
Chicago, et al. R.R. v. Nebraska ex rel. City of Omaha		Shiras	none	none	Neb.	affirmed
Missouri ex rel. Laclede G.L. Co. v. Murphy		Fuller	none	none	Mo.	affirmed
Barrow S.S. Co. v. Kane		Gray	none	none	2d Cir.	certification
The John G. Stevens		Gray	none	none	2d Cir.	certification
Louisville Water Co. v. Kentucky		Harlan	none	none	Ky.	reversed
American Surety Co. v. Pauly I		Harlan	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
American Surety Co. v. Pauly II		Harlan	none	White	2d Cir.	affirmed
Kipley v. Illinois ex rel. Akin I		Harlan	none	none	Ill.	dismissed
Kipley v. Illinois ex rel. Akin II		Harlan	none	none	Ill.	dismissed
Hawker v. New York		Brewer	none	Harlan	N.Y. Ct. Gen. Sess.	affirmed
Kirwan v. Murphy		Fuller	none	none	8th Cir.	dismissed
Humes v. United States		McKenna	none	none	C.C.W.D. Tenn.	affirmed
Williams v. Mississippi		McKenna	none	none	Miss.	affirmed
Galveston, et al. Ry. Co. v. Texas		Fuller	none	none	Tex. Civ. App.	affirmed
Houston et al. Ry. Co. v. Texas		Fuller	none	none	Tex. Civ. App.	reversed
Selvester v. United States		White	Gray	none	N.D. Cal.	affirmed
Calderon v. Atlas S.S. Co.		Brown	none	none	2d Cir.	reversed
Magoun v. Illinois T. & S. Bank		McKenna	none	Brewer	C.C.N.D. Ill.	affirmed
Williams v. Eggleston		Brewer	none	none	Conn.	affirmed
Shaw v. Kellogg		Brewer	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Thompson v. Utah		Harlan	none	none	Utah	reversed
Virginia & A.C. Co. v. Central R.R. & Banking Co.		White	none	none	5th Cir.	affirmed
Smith v. United States		Peckham	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Ariz.	affirmed
Stuart v. City of Easton		White	none	none	3d Cir.	affirmed
Jolly v. United States		Peckham	none	none	D. Ky.	affirmed
Havnor v. People		White	none	none	N.Y. Sup. Ct.	dismissed
Rhodes v. Iowa		White	none	Gray	Iowa	reversed
Vance v. Vandercook Co. I		White	none	Shiras	C.C.D.S.C.	multiple
Vance v. Vandercook Co. II		White	none	none	C.C.D.S.C.	reversed
Andersen v. United States		Fuller	none	McKenna	C.C.E.D. Va.	affirmed
Plaquemines T.F. Co. v. Henderson		Harlan	none	none	C.C.E.D. La.	affirmed
United States v. Winston		Brewer	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
United States v. Garter		Brewer	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Reeder		Brown	none	none	5th Cir.	affirmed
Boyden Power-Brake Co. v. Westinghouse Co.		Brown	none	none	4th Cir.	reversed
Fink v. United States		White	none	none	2d Cir.	certification
Wagoner v. Evans		Shiras	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla.	reversed
Provident Life Tr. Co. v. Mercer Cnty.		Brewer	none	none	6th Cir.	reversed
Ledbetter v. United States		Brown	none	none	S.D. Iowa	affirmed
New York Indians v. United States II		per curiam	none	none	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Holloway v. Dunham		Peckham	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla.	affirmed
United States v. Salambier		Shiras	none	none	2d Cir.	certification
United States v. Lies		Peckham	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Hayes v. United States		White	none	none	Ct. Priv. Land Cl.	affirmed
The Carib Prince		White	none	Brown	2d Cir.	reversed
Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Archibald		White	none	none	5th Cir.	affirmed
Kingman Co. v. Western Mfg. Co.		Fuller	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
United States v. Coe		McKenna	none	none	Ct. Priv. Land Cl.	reversed