List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 178

This is a list of cases reported in volume 178 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1900.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 178 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 178 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

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 178 U.S.

Case Name	Page and year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition of case
Roehm v. Horst		Fuller	none	none	3d Cir.	affirmed
Osborne v. San Diego Land and Town Company		McKenna	none	none	C.C.S.D. Cal.	affirmed
Knowlton v. Moore		White	none	Harlan	C.C.E.D.N.Y.	reversed
High v. Coyne		White	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ill.	affirmed
Fidelity Insurance Trust and Safe Deposit Company v. McClain		White	none	none	C.C.E.D. Pa.	affirmed
Plummer v. Coler		Shiras	none	none	N.Y. County Sur. Ct.	affirmed
Murdock v. Ward		Shiras	none	none	C.C.S.D.N.Y.	reversed
Sherman v. United States		Shiras	none	none	C.C.N.D.N.Y.	reversed
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company v. Howard		Peckham	none	none	D.C. Cir.	affirmed
Castner v. Coffman		White	none	none	4th Cir.	affirmed
Clarke v. Clarke		White	none	none	Conn.	affirmed
Browning v. De Ford		Brown	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla.	affirmed
Moran v. Horsky		Brewer	none	none	Mont.	dismissed
Tarpey v. Madsen		Brewer	none	none	Utah	reversed
McDonnell v. Jordan		Fuller	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ala.	reversed
Western Union Telegraph Company v. Ann Arbor Railroad Company		Fuller	none	none	6th Cir.	reversed
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company v. Martin		Fuller	none	none	Kan.	affirmed
Rider v. United States		Harlan	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ohio	reversed
North American Transportation and Trading Company v. Morrison		Shiras	none	none	C.C.D. Wash.	reversed
Pittsburgh and Lake Angeline Iron Company v. Cleveland Iron Mining Company		McKenna	none	none	Mich.	dismissed
Corralitos Company v. United States		Peckham	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Sully v. American National Bank		Peckham	none	none	Tenn.	multiple
Fitzpatrick v. United States		Brown	none	none	D. Alaska	affirmed
Ex parte Union Steamboat Company		Brown	none	none	E.D. Mich.	mandamus denied
Wheeler v. New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company		Brown	none	none	Conn.	affirmed
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York v. Phinney		Brewer	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York v. Sears		Brewer	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York v. Hill		Brewer	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York v. Allen		Brewer	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company v. Clark		Fuller	none	none	2d Cir.	reversed
Moffett, Hodgkins and Clarke Company v. City of Rochester		McKenna	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
New York Life Insurance Company v. Cravens		McKenna	none	none	Mo.	affirmed
Banholzer v. New York Life Insurance Company		McKenna	none	none	Minn.	dismissed
Deserant v. Cerillos Coal Railroad Company		McKenna	none	none	Sup. Ct. Terr. N.M.	reversed
In re Connaway		McKenna	none	none	9th Cir.	mandamus granted
Smith v. Reeves		Harlan	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
Earle v. Pennsylvania		Harlan	none	none	Pa.	reversed
Earle v. Conway		Harlan	none	none	Pa.	affirmed
Motes v. United States		Harlan	none	none	C.C.N.D. Ala.	multiple
Hawley v. Diller		Harlan	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
May Company v. City of New Orleans		Harlan	none	none	La.	affirmed
Dewey v. United States		Harlan	none	Fuller	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Bardes v. Hawarden Bank		Gray	none	none	N.D. Iowa	affirmed
Mitchell v. McClure		Gray	none	none	W.D. Pa.	affirmed
Hicks v. Knost		Gray	none	none	6th Cir.	certification
White v. Schloerb		Gray	none	none	7th Cir.	certification
Taylor v. Beckham		Fuller	none	Brewer; Harlan	Ky.	dismissed