List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 48

This is a list of cases reported in volume 48 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1848 and 1849.

Nominative reports

In 1874, the U.S. government created the United States Reports, and retroactively numbered older privately-published case reports as part of the new series. As a result, cases appearing in volumes 1–90 of U.S. Reports have dual citation forms; one for the volume number of U.S. Reports, and one for the volume number of the reports named for the relevant reporter of decisions.

Benjamin Chew Howard

Starting with the 42nd volume of U.S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was Benjamin Chew Howard. Howard was Reporter of Decisions from 1843 to 1860, covering volumes 42 through 65 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 24 of his Howard's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, United States v. City of Chicago is 48 U.S. 185.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 48 U.S. (7 How.)

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 48 U.S. were decided the Court comprised these nine members:

Portrait	Justice	Office	Home State	Succeeded	Date confirmed by the Senate	Tenure on Supreme Court
	Roger B. Taney	Chief Justice	Maryland	John Marshall		– October 12, 1864
	John McLean	Associate Justice	Ohio	Robert Trimble		– April 4, 1861
	James Moore Wayne	Associate Justice	Georgia	William Johnson		– July 5, 1867
	John Catron	Associate Justice	Tennessee	newly created seat		– May 30, 1865
	John McKinley	Associate Justice	Alabama	newly created seat		– July 19, 1852
	Peter Vivian Daniel	Associate Justice	Virginia	Philip P. Barbour		– May 31, 1860
	Samuel Nelson	Associate Justice	New York	Smith Thompson		– November 28, 1872
	Levi Woodbury	Associate Justice	New Hampshire	Joseph Story		– September 4, 1851
	Robert Cooper Grier	Associate Justice	Pennsylvania	Henry Baldwin		– January 31, 1870

Notable cases in 48 U.S. (7 How.)

''Luther v. Borden''

In Luther v. Borden, , the Supreme Court established the political question doctrine in controversies arising under the Guarantee Clause of Article Four of the United States Constitution. The holding that the "republican form of government" clause of Article Four is non-justiciable still stands today. The case arose from the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island.

''Passenger Cases''

Smith v. Turner, and Norris v. Boston, , are two similar cases, argued together before the Supreme Court, which decided 5-4 that states do not have the right to impose a tax determined by the number of passengers of a designated category on board a ship and/or disembarking into the State. Together, the cases are sometimes termed the Passenger Cases. The Court did not produce a majority opinion. Eight Justices authored separate opinions, totalling hundreds of pages, and their respective stances on various issues did not always align with other justices in their concurrences or dissents. The Passengers Cases are of historical interest. They portray diverse views on several constitutional questions, especially whether the Commerce Clause prohibits any state regulation of interstate and foreign commerce in the absence of federal law or treaty. The failure of the Court to produce a majority opinion significantly diminished the value of the Passengers Cases as a precedent.

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.
Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.

"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 48 U.S. (7 How.)

Case Name	Page & year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
Luther v. Borden		Taney	none	Woodbury	C.C.D.R.I.	affirmed
Wilkes v. Dinsman		Woodbury	none	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Patton v. Taylor		Nelson	none	none	C.C.D. Ky.	reversed
Fourniquet v. Perkins		Daniel	none	none	C.C.D. La.	affirmed
Erwin v. Lowry		Catron	none	none	La.	reversed
United States v. City of Chicago		Woodbury	none	Catron	C.C.D. Ill.	certification
Smith v. Kernochen		Nelson	none	none	C.C.S.D. Ala.	reversed
McLaughlin v. Bank of Potomac		Woodbury	none	none	C.C.D.C.	affirmed
Wagner v. Baird		Grier	none	none	C.C.D. Ohio	affirmed
Matheson v. Bank of Ala.		Taney	none	none	Ala.	dismissed
McArthur's Heirs v. Dun's Heirs		Daniel	none	none	C.C.D. Ohio	certification
Mace v. Wells		McLean	none	none	Vt.	reversed
Bodley v. Goodrich		McLean	none	none	C.C.D. La.	affirmed
Crawford v. Bank of Ala.		McLean	none	none	Ala.	dismissed
Passenger Cases		none	all	all	multiple	reversed
Tyler v. Hand		Wayne	none	none	N.D. Miss.	reversed
Kennedy's Ex'rs v. Hunt's Lessee		Catron	none	none	Ala.	dismissed
Hugg v. Augusta Ins. & Banking Co.		Nelson	none	none	C.C.D. Md.	certification
Peck v. Jenness		Grier	none	none	N.H.	affirmed
Colby v. Ledden		Grier	none	none	N.H.	affirmed
Shawhan v. Wherritt		Grier	none	none	C.C.D. Ky.	affirmed
Sadler v. Hoover		Taney	none	none	C.C.S.D. Miss.	certification
Barnard v. Gibson		McLean	none	none	C.C.N.D.N.Y.	dismissed
United States v. Boisdore's Heirs		McLean	none	none	S.D. Miss.	dismissal denied
Missouri v. Iowa		Catron	none	none	original	boundary set
Jones v. United States		Daniel	none	none	C.C.E.D. Va.	affirmed
Harris v. Wall		Grier	none	none	C.C.S.D. Miss.	reversed
Townsend v. Jemison		Woodbury	Taney	Daniel	N.D. Miss.	affirmed
Hardeman v. Harris		Taney	none	none	C.C.S.D. Miss.	certification
Cutler v. Rae		Taney	Wayne	none	C.C.D. Mass.	reversed
Smith v. Hunter		Daniel	none	none	Ohio	dismissed
McDonald v. Hobson		Nelson	none	none	C.C.D. Ohio	reversed
Massingill v. Downs		McLean	none	none	C.C.S.D. Miss.	certification
Udell v. Davidson		Taney	none	none	Ill.	dismissed
Neilson v. Lagow		Taney	none	none	Ind.	dismissal denied
Lewis ex rel. Longworth v. Lewis		Taney	none	McLean	C.C.D. Ill.	certification
van Rensselaer v. Watt's Ex'rs		Taney	none	none	not indicated	docketing denied
Lawrence v. Allen		Woodbury	none	none	C.C.S.D.N.Y.	reversed
Backus v. Gould		McLean	none	none	C.C.N.D.N.Y.	reversed
Nesmith v. Sheldon		Taney	none	none	C.C.D. Mich.	certification
Stearns v. Page		Grier	none	none	C.C.D. Me.	affirmed
United States v. King		Taney	none	McLean, Wayne	C.C.E.D. La.	reversed