This is a list of cases reported in volume 118 of ''

United States Reports The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...

'', decided by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

in 1886.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 118 U.S.

The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nati ...

, 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 A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

to set the number of justices. Under the

Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article III, Sec ...

Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices). Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven,

nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

, ten, and back to

justices (always including one chief justice). When the cases in volume 118 U.S. were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

Notable Cases in 118 U.S.

''Yick Wo v. Hopkins''

Yick Wo v. Hopkins ''Yick Wo v. Hopkins'', 118 U.S. 356 (1886), was the first case where the United States Supreme Court ruled that a law that is race-neutral on its face, but is administered in a prejudicial manner, is an infringement of the Equal Protection Claus ...

''
356 (1886)
was the first case in which the Supreme Court held that a law, race-neutral on its face but administered in a prejudicial manner, is an infringement of the

Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...

of the Fourteenth Amendment. By the 1950s, the

Warren Court The Warren Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren replaced the deceased Fred M. Vinson as Chief Justice in 1953, and Warren remained in office until ...

used the principle established in ''Yick Wo'' to strike down several attempts by states and municipalities in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...

to limit the political rights of blacks. ''Yick Wo'' has been cited in more than 150 Supreme Court cases since it was decided.

''Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific R.R. Co.''

'' Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific R.R. Co.''
394 (1886)
is a corporate law case concerning taxation of railroad properties. The case is most notable for a

headnote A headnote is a brief summary of a particular point of law that is added to the text of a court decision to aid readers in locating discussion of a legal issue in an opinion. As the term implies, headnotes appear at the beginning of the publis ...

written by the Supreme Court's Reporter of Decisions,

Bancroft Davis John Chandler Bancroft Davis (December 29, 1822 – December 27, 1907), commonly known as (J. C.) Bancroft Davis, was an attorney, diplomat, judge of the Court of Claims and Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Edu ...

, stating that the

of the Fourteenth Amendment grants constitutional protections to corporations as it does to natural persons, although the text of the decision itself does not establish this principle.

''Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois''

In '' Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois''
557 (1886)
also known as the Wabash Case, the Supreme Court severely limited the rights of states to control or impede

interstate commerce The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amo ...

. The decision led to the creation of the federal

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to elimina ...

, the first modern regulatory agency in the United States.

Citation style

Under the

the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) 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 In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the Su ...

(''i.e.,'' in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.

Bluebook ''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' is a style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. It is taught and used at a majority of U.S. law schools and is also used in a majority of federal ...

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 The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was he ...

* "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 The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (in case citations, M.D. Ala.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appeal ...

* "Ct. Cl." =

United States Court of Claims The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims (), and abolished in 1982. Then, its jurisdiction was assumed by the n ...

* 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 The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

** ''e.g.,''"Me." =

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. From 1820 until 1839, justices served lifetime ...

List of cases in volume 118 U.S.

Notes and references

External links

Case reports in volume 118 from Library of Congress

Case reports in volume 118 from Court Listener

Case reports in volume 118 from the Caselaw Access Project of

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

Case reports in volume 118 from Google Scholar

Case reports in volume 118 from Justia

Case reports in volume 118 from Open Jurist
Website of the United States Supreme Court

United States Courts website about the Supreme Court

* ttps://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/after-the-bar/essentials/how-does-the-supreme-court-work/ American Bar Association, How Does the Supreme Court Work?
The Supreme Court Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Supreme Court cases by volume 1886 in United States case law