List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 10
# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 10

This is a list of cases reported in volume 10 (6 Cranch) of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1810.

## 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 (these are called "nominative reports").

### 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, Field v. Holland is 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 8 (1810).

## Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 10 U.S. (6 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 (one chief justice and five associate justices). Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).

When the cases in 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) were decided, the Court comprised these seven justices:

| Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| John Marshall | Chief Justice | Virginia | Oliver Ellsworth | January 27, 1801 (Acclamation) | February 4, 1801 – July 6, 1835 (Died) |
| William Cushing | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | original seat established | September 26, 1789 (Acclamation) | February 2, 1790 – September 13, 1810 (Died) |
| Samuel Chase | Associate Justice | Maryland | John Blair, Jr. | January 27, 1796 (Acclamation) | February 4, 1796 – June 19, 1811 (Died) |
| Bushrod Washington | Associate Justice | Virginia | James Wilson | December 20, 1798 (Acclamation) | November 9, 1798 (Recess Appointment) – November 26, 1829 (Died) |
| William Johnson | Associate Justice | South Carolina | Alfred Moore | March 24, 1804 (Acclamation) | May 7, 1804 – August 4, 1834 (Died) |
| Henry Brockholst Livingston | Associate Justice | New York | William Paterson | December 17, 1806 (Acclamation) | January 20, 1807 – March 18, 1823 (Died) |
| Thomas Todd | Associate Justice | Kentucky | new seat | March 2, 1807 (Acclamation) | March 3, 1807 – February 7, 1826 (Died) |

## Notable cases in 10 U.S. (6 Cranch)

### Fletcher v. Peck

In Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 87 (1810), for the first time the Court held a state law to be unconstitutional (in Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), the Supreme Court had for the first time held a federal law to be unconstitutional). The Court in Fletcher helped create a line of precedents supporting the sanctity of contracts, and hinted that Native Americans did not hold complete title to their own lands.

### Tyler v. Tuel

In Tyler v. Tuel, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 324 (1810), the Court held that an assignee of a geographically limited patent right could not bring an action in the assignee's own name. It was the first published Supreme Court decision on patent law. Like other Supreme Court patent cases prior to Evans v. Eaton, 16 U.S. (3 Wheat.) 454 (1818), however, it did not deal with substantive patent law, but only with the law of patent assignment.

## 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 (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 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 10 U.S. (6 Cranch)

| Case Name | Page and year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower court | Disposition |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Scott v. Ben | 3 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| Field v. Holland | 8 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Ga. | affirmed |
| Maryland Insurance Company v. Woods | 29 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | reversed |
| Young v. Grundy | 51 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Ky. | dismissed |
| Ex parte Wilson | 52 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | habeas corpus denied |
| Oneale v. Thornton | 53 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| King v. Delaware Insurance Company | 71 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Pa. | affirmed |
| Lewis v. Harwood | 82 (1810) | Livingston | none | none | C.C.D. Va. | reversed |
| Riddle and Company v. Mandeville | 86 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | certification |
| Fletcher v. Peck | 87 (1810) | Marshall | Johnson | none | C.C.D. Md. | affirmed |
| Massie v. Watts | 148 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Ky. | affirmed |
| United States v. Hall | 171 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Pa. | affirmed |
| Campbell v. Gordon | 176 (1810) | Washington | none | none | C.C.D. Va. | affirmed |
| M'Knight v. Craig's Administrator | 183 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| Kennedy v. Brent | 187 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | affirmed |
| Korn v. Mutual Assurance Society | 192 (1810) | Johnson | none | none | C.C.D.C. | affirmed |
| Atkinson v. Mutual Assurance Society | 202 (1810) | Johnson | none | none | not indicated | reversed |
| Stewart v. Anderson | 203 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | affirmed |
| The Ship Helen | 203 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | not indicated | affirmed |
| Marine Insurance Company v. Hodgson | 206 (1810) | Livingston | none | none | C.C.D.C. | affirmed |
| Slacum v. Pomery | 221 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | certification |
| Vasse v. Smith | 226 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| Custiss v. Georgetown and Alexandria Turnpike Company | 233 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| Lodge's Lessee v. Lee | 237 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | not indicated | affirmed |
| Finley v. Lynn | 238 (1810) | Marshall | Todd (in part) | Todd (in part) | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| De Butts v. Bacon | 252 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | C.C.D.C. | affirmed |
| Sheehy v. Mandeville | 253 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D.C. | reversed |
| Skillern's Executors v. May's Executors | 267 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | C.C.D. Ky. | remanded |
| Chesapeake Insurance Company v. Stark | 268 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | reversed |
| Livingston v. Maryland Insurance Company | 274 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | reversed |
| Hudson v. Guestier | 281 (1810) | Livingston | Todd | Marshall | C.C.D. Md. | affirmed |
| Smith v. Maryland ex rel. Caroll | 286 (1810) | Washington | none | none | Md. | affirmed |
| Durousseau v. United States | 307 (1810) | Marshall | Livingston, Johnson | none | D. Orleans | reversed |
| Tyler v. Tuel | 324 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | C.C.D. Vt. | arrest of judgment |
| The Schooner Juliana | 327 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | reversed |
| The Schooner Rachel | 329 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | D. Orleans | certification |
| The Brigantine Amiable Lucy | 330 (1810) | per curiam | none | none | D. Orleans | reversed |
| Sere v. Pitot | 332 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | D. Orleans | affirmed |
| Maryland Insurance Company v. Ruden's Administrator | 338 (1810) | Marshall | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | affirmed |
