List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 8

This is a list of cases reported in volume 8 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1807 and 1808.

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.

William Cranch

Starting with the 5th volume of U.S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was William Cranch. Cranch was Reporter of Decisions from 1801 to 1815, covering volumes 5 through 13 of United States Reports which correspond to volumes 1 through 9 of his Cranch's Reports. As such, the complete citation to, for example, Jennings v. Carson is 8 U.S. 2.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 8 U.S. (4 Cranch)

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 8 U.S. were decided, the Court comprised these seven justices:

Portrait	Justice	Office	Home State	Succeeded	Date confirmed by the Senate	Tenure on Supreme Court
	John Marshall	Chief Justice	Virginia	Oliver Ellsworth		– July 6, 1835
	William Cushing	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	original seat established		– September 13, 1810
	Samuel Chase	Associate Justice	Maryland	John Blair, Jr.		– June 19, 1811
	Bushrod Washington	Associate Justice	Virginia	James Wilson		– November 26, 1829
	William Johnson	Associate Justice	South Carolina	Alfred Moore		– August 4, 1834
	Henry Brockholst Livingston	Associate Justice	New York	William Paterson		– March 18, 1823
	Thomas Todd	Associate Justice	Kentucky	new seat		– February 7, 1826

Notable cases in 8 U.S. (4 Cranch)

''Ex parte Bollman''

In Ex parte Bollman, the Supreme Court held that the constitutional definition of treason excluded mere conspiracy to levy war against the United States. Erick Bollman and Samuel Swartwout were civilians who became implicated in the Burr-Wilkinson Plot. This plot supposedly consisted of Aaron Burr and James Wilkinson attempting to create an empire in the United States, ruled by Burr. In 1806, Wilkinson informed Thomas Jefferson of the plot, ending whatever may have actually been planned. Bollman and Swartwout attempted to recruit others into the plot, but these individuals informed the military, which promptly arrested them. The Court decided that "To constitute a levying of war, there must be an assemblage of persons for the purpose of effecting by force a treasonable purpose. Enlistments of men to serve against government is not sufficient."

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 8 U.S. (4 Cranch)

Case Name	Page and year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
United States v. Kid		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	certification
Jennings v. Carson		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	affirmed
Rhinelander v. Insurance Company		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	certification
Montalet v. Murray		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	certification
United States v. Willings		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	affirmed
O'Neale v. Long		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Smith v. Carrington		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.R.I.	reversed
Pendleton v. Wambersie		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	reversed
Ex parte Bollman		Marshall	Chase	Johnson	C.C.D.C.	habeas corpus granted
Skillern's Executors v. May's Executors		per curiam	none	none	D. Ky.	reversed
French's Executrix v. Bank of Columbia		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Hopkirk v. Bell		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Va.	certification
Hicks v. Rogers		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Vt.	certification
United States v. Cantrill		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	judgment arrested
Sthreshley v. United States		Marshall	none	none	D. Ky.	reversed
Marshall v. Currie		Johnson	none	none	D. Ky.	reversed
Viers v. Montgomery		per curiam	none	none	D. Ky.	reversed
Diggs v. Wolcott		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Conn.	reversed
Wood v. Lide		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	affirmed
Fitzsimmons v. Newport Insurance Company		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.R.I.	reversed
Marshall v. Delaware Insurance Company		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	affirmed
McIlvaine v. Coxe's Lessee		Cushing	none	none	C.C.D.N.J.	affirmed
The Brig Union		Marshall	none	Johnson	C.C.D. Del.	overruled
Pawling v. United States		Marshall	none	none	D. Ky.	reversed
Grant v. Naylor		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Md.	reversed
Woods v. Young		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D.C.	affirmed
Young v. Preston		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Rose v. Himely		Marshall	Livingston, Johnson	none	C.C.D.S.C.	reversed
Hudson v. Guestier		Marshall	Johnson	Chase, Livingston	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Alexander v. Harris		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	affirmed
Chappedelaine v. Dechenaux		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	multiple
United States v. Vowell		per curiam	none	none	D. Ky.	dismissed certification
City of Alexandria v. Patten		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Dawson's Lessee v. Godfrey		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D.C.	affirmed
Mountz v. Hodgson		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	dismissed certification
The Ship Charles Carter		Chase	none	none	C.C.D. Va.	affirmed
United States v. Gurney		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	certification
Peisch v. Ware		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Del.	affirmed
Shearman v. Irvine's Lessee		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	affirmed
Alexander v. Baltimore Insurance Company		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Md.	affirmed
Morgan v. Callender		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Orleans	dismissed certification
Matthews v. Zane		Marshall	none	none	Ohio	jurisdiction set
Young v. Bank of Alexandria		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	overruled
Spires v. Willison		Marshall	none	none	D. Ky.	reversed
Ramsay v. Lee		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	affirmed
Stead's Executors v. Course		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Ga.	reversed
Higginson v. Mein		Marshall	none	Livingston	C.C.D. Ga.	reversed
Pollard v. Dwight		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D. Conn.	reversed
Croudson v. Leonard		Johnson	Washington	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed
Ex parte Lewis		per curiam	none	none	C.C.D. Pa.	certification
The Schooner Betsey		Marshall	none	none	C.C.D.C.	reversed