List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 27
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This is a list of cases reported in volume 27 (2 Pet.) 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 1829.


Nominative reports

In 1874, the U.S. government created the ''United States Reports'', and retroactively numbered older privately-published
case reports In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence ...
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 (these are called " nominative reports").


Richard Peters, Jr.

Starting with the 26th volume of ''U.S. Reports'', the
Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States The reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States is the official charged with editing and publishing the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, both when announced and when they are published in permanent bound volu ...
was Richard Peters, Jr. Peters was Reporter of Decisions from 1828 to 1843, covering volumes 26 through 41 of ''United States Reports'' which correspond to volumes 1 through 16 of his ''Peters's Reports''. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, ''Smith v. Foxall'' is 27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 595 (1829).


Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 27 U.S. (2 Pet.)

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 It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789.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,
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, ten, and back to
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 ...
justices (always including one chief justice). When the cases in 27 U.S. (2 Pet.) were decided, the Court comprised these six justices (although a seventh justice,
John McLean John McLean (March 11, 1785 – April 4, 1861) was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice of the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts. He was often discussed for t ...
, was confirmed by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
in March 1829 after the death of Justice Robert Trimble, McLean did not take his seat on the Supreme Court until January 1830 and so did not participate in the decision of cases reported in 27 U.S. (2 Pet.)):


Notable Cases in 27 U.S. (2 Pet.)


''Pennock v. Dialogue''

In '' Pennock v. Dialogue''
27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 1 (1829)
the Supreme Court held invalid a patent on a method of making hose because the inventor had commercially exploited the invention for years before filing the
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
application. The case has been cited many times for the proposition that the U.S. patent system was not established for the purpose of enriching inventors or their financiers but rather for the purpose of furthering the public interest by stimulating technological progress.See, e.g., ("Since ''Pennock v. Dialogue'', 2 Pet. 1, was decided in 1829, this Court has consistently held that the primary purpose of our patent laws is not the creation of private fortunes for the owners of patents, but is 'to promote the progress of science and the useful arts.' ").


''Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co.''

''
Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co. ''Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co.'', 27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 245 (1829), was a significant United States Supreme Court case regarding the definition of the Commerce Clause in Article 1 sec. 8, cl. 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Background Willson, ...
''
27 U.S. (2 Pet.) 245 (1829)
was a significant Supreme Court decision regarding the definition of the
Commerce Clause 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 amon ...
in Article 1 sec. 8, cl. 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Willson, the owner of a
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
licensed under federal navigation laws, broke through a dam built by the Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co. that blocked his passage. The company brought a case against Willson, claiming that
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
authorized the building of the dam through a law which was passed under the police power of the state in order to clean up a health hazard, and there was no legislation by Congress dealing with the same subject matter. Willson claimed that the law authorizing the building of the dam was a violation of the Commerce Clause. He believed he had a constitutional right to navigate coastal streams, and Delaware's actions were motivated by private profits. Chief Justice
John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...
affirmed the lower court's decision, that because no federal law dealt specifically with the situation, and since the Delaware law did not violate Congress'
Dormant Commerce Clause The Dormant Commerce Clause, or Negative Commerce Clause, in American constitutional law, is a legal doctrine that courts in the United States have inferred from the Commerce Clause in Article I of the US Constitution. The primary focus of the d ...
power, the state law was valid.


Citation style

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 ...
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 27 U.S. (2 Pet.)


Notes and references


See also

*
certificate of division A certificate of division was a source of appellate jurisdiction from the circuit courts to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1802 to 1911. Created by the Judiciary Act of 1802, the certification procedure was available only where the c ...


External links



Case reports in volume 27 (2 Pet.) from Court Listener

Case reports in volume 27 (2 Pet.) 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 27 (2 Pet.) from Google Scholar

Case reports in volume 27 (2 Pet.) from Justia

Case reports in volume 27 (2 Pet.) 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 1829 in United States case law