List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 56


This is a list of cases reported in volume 56 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1853 and 1854.

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, Corning v. Troy Iron & Nail Factory is 56 U.S. 451.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 56 U.S. (15 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 56 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

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April 4, 1861
James Moore WayneAssociate JusticeGeorgiaWilliam Johnson

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July 5, 1867
John CatronAssociate JusticeTennesseenewly created seat

–
May 30, 1865
Peter Vivian DanielAssociate JusticeVirginiaPhilip P. Barbour

–
May 31, 1860
Samuel NelsonAssociate JusticeNew YorkSmith Thompson

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November 28, 1872
Robert Cooper GrierAssociate JusticePennsylvaniaHenry Baldwin

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January 31, 1870
Benjamin Robbins CurtisAssociate JusticeMassachusetts
Levi Woodbury

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September 30, 1857
John Archibald CampbellAssociate JusticeAlabamaJohn McKinley

–
April 30, 1861

Notable case in 56 U.S. (15 How.)

''O'Reilly v. Morse''

O'Reilly v. Morse,, also known as The Telegraph Patent Case, is an 1854 decision of the Supreme Court that has been highly influential in the development of the law of patent-eligibility in regard to claimed inventions in the field of computer-software related art. It holds, essentially, that an abstract idea, apart from its implementation, is not patent-eligible.

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.