List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 51


This is a list of cases reported in volume 51 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1850 and 1851.

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, Butler v. Pennsylvania is 51 U.S. 402.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 51 U.S. (10 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 51 U.S. were decided the Court comprised these nine members:
PortraitJusticeOfficeHome StateSucceededDate confirmed by the Senate
Tenure on Supreme Court
Roger B. TaneyChief JusticeMarylandJohn Marshall

–
October 12, 1864
John McLeanAssociate JusticeOhioRobert Trimble

–
April 4, 1861
James Moore WayneAssociate JusticeGeorgiaWilliam Johnson

–
July 5, 1867
John CatronAssociate JusticeTennesseenewly created seat

–
May 30, 1865
John McKinleyAssociate JusticeAlabamanewly created seat

–
July 19, 1852
Peter Vivian DanielAssociate JusticeVirginiaPhilip P. Barbour

–
May 31, 1860
Samuel NelsonAssociate JusticeNew YorkSmith Thompson

–
November 28, 1872
Levi WoodburyAssociate JusticeNew HampshireJoseph Story

–
September 4, 1851
Robert Cooper GrierAssociate JusticePennsylvaniaHenry Baldwin

–
January 31, 1870

Notable case in 51 U.S. (10 How.)

''Strader v. Graham''

In Strader v. Graham , the Supreme Court held that the status of three slaves who went by steamboat from the slave state of Kentucky to the free states of Indiana and Ohio depended on Kentucky law rather than on Indiana or Ohio law. The slaves later escaped to Canada. Kentucky law made steamboat operators liable for the value of any slaves escaping by the boat. Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Roger Taney accepted the conclusions of the Supreme Court of Kentucky that refused to rule on the status of the slaves unless they were parties to the lawsuit, and that Kentucky need not apply Indiana or Ohio law under which the three slaves would be considered freed.

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.