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").
Richard Peters, Jr.
Starting with the 26th volume of U.S. Reports, the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States 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, Hunter v. United States is 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 173 (1831).
Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of 30 U.S. (5 Pet.)
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).[2] 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 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) were decided, the Court comprised these seven justices:
Map of northeastern Georgia, showing Cherokee lands in 1830
In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831), the Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the U.S. state of Georgia depriving the tribe of rights within its geographical boundaries, but the Supreme Court did not hear the case on its merits. It ruled that it had no original jurisdiction in the matter, since the Cherokees were a dependent nation, with a relationship to the United States like that of a "ward to its guardian". One year later, however, in Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832), the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign. According to the decision, this meant that Georgia had no right to enforce state laws in the Cherokee territory. President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling, however, instead directing the expulsion of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia. U.S. Army forces were used in some cases to round them up. Their expulsion and subsequent route is called "The Trail of Tears". Of the 15,000 who left Georgia, 4,000 died on the journey to Indian Territory in the present-day U.S. state of Oklahoma.
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 . . .
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