This is a list of cases reported in volume 74 (7 Wall.) of '' United States Reports'', decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1869.

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").

John William Wallace

Starting with the 66th volume of ''U.S. Reports'', the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States was

John William Wallace John William Wallace (February 17, 1815 – January 12, 1884) was an American lawyer and the seventh reporter of decisions of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1863 to 1874. Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from the University of Pe ...

. Wallace was Reporter of Decisions from 1863 to 1874, covering volumes 68 through 90 of ''United States Reports'' which correspond to volumes 1 through 23 of his ''Wallace's Reports''. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, ''Lincoln v. Clafin'' is 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 132 (1869). ''Wallace's Reports'' were the final nominative reports for the US Supreme Court; starting with volume 91, cases were identified simply as "(volume #) U.S. (page #) (year)".

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 74 U.S. (7 Wall.)

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 It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789.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 natio ...

, 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 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). To prevent President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices, a hostile Congress passed the

Judicial Circuits Act The Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 (ch. 210, ) reorganized the United States circuit courts and provided for the gradual elimination of several seats on the Supreme Court of the United States. It was signed into law on July 23, 1866, by President ...

of 1866, eliminating three of the 10 seats from the Supreme Court as they became vacant, and so potentially reducing the size of the court to seven justices. The vacancy caused by the death of Justice John Catron in 1865 had not been filled, so after Justice

James Moore Wayne James Moore Wayne (1790 – July 5, 1867) was an American attorney, judge and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1835 to 1867. He previously served as the 16th Mayor of Savannah, Geo ...

died in July 1867 there were eight justices left on the court when the cases in 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) were decided:

Notable Cases in 74 U.S. (7 Wall.)

''Ex parte McCardle''

'' Ex parte McCardle''
74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 506 (1869)
arose during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. Newspaper publisher McCardle circulated "incendiary" articles advocating opposition to the Reconstruction laws enacted by

. He was jailed by a military commander under the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. McCardle pursued a writ of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' in a Circuit Court in Mississippi, where he was unsuccessful. He appealed to the Supreme Court under the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, which granted appellate jurisdiction to review denial of habeas corpus petitions. After the case was argued but before an opinion was delivered, Congress suspended the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over the case, exercising powers granted under Article III, section 2 of the US Constitution to limit the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Court validated congressional withdrawal of the Court's jurisdiction, and so McCardle had no recourse by which to challenge his imprisonment in federal court.

''Texas v. White''

In '' Texas v. White''
74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 700 (1869)
is one of the most important Supreme Court decisions during the Reconstruction era. It remains influential because of its definition of the legal status of a state and how states relate to each other within the nation. In accepting original jurisdiction under the constitution's jurisdictional grant of state v. state cases, the Court ruled that as a matter of constitutional law Texas had remained a United States

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

ever since it first joined the Union despite its later joining the insurrectionist

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. The Court held that the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

did not permit

s unilaterally to

secede Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...

from the Union, and that the ordinances of secession and all acts of legislatures in seceding states intended to give effect to such ordinances were void.

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 (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 S ...

(''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 appea ...

* "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 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 74 U.S. (7 Wall.)

Notes and references

External links

Case reports in volume 74 (7 Wall.) from Library of Congress

Case reports in volume 74 (7 Wall.) from Court Listener

Case reports in volume 74 (7 Wall.) from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School

Case reports in volume 74 (7 Wall.) from Google Scholar

Case reports in volume 74 (7 Wall.) from Justia

Case reports in volume 74 (7 Wall.) 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 1869 in United States case law