ESTABLISHMENT IN 1789, TO FEBRUARY TERM, 1820. INCLUDING THE CASES DECIDED IN THE CONTINENTAL COURT OF APPEALS IN PRIZE CAUSES, DURING THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. BY HENRY WHEATON, NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY R. DONALDSON, 45 JOHN-STREET. Southern District of New-York, ss: BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the first day of August, in the forty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, HENRY WHEATON, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words and figures following, to wit: "A Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, from its establishment in the year 1789, to February term, 1820. Including the Cases decided in the Continental Courts of Appeals in Prize Causes during the war of the Revolution. By Henry Wheaton, Counsellor at Law, and Reporter of the Decisions of the Supreme Court." In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the "encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the "authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also, to an act, entitled, “An act supplementary to an act, entitled, an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the "authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and ex"tending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical "and other prints." GILBERT LIVINGSTON THOMPSON, Clerk of the Southern District of New-York. ADVERTISEMENT. IN compiling this Digest, which it is hoped may be useful to the profession, the Editor has endeavoured to abstract the points decided, as nearly as possible, in the very words used by the Court in delivering its judgment. Wherever this plan has been departed from, it has been in order to give the leading principles determined in a more condensed and concise form. By referring to the Table of Contents at the beginning, the learned reader will be able readily to find what he is in search of. An Appendix has been added, containing some of the most important Acts of Congress expounded or commented on by the Court, with a reference to the Titles of the Digest where the exposition or commentary is to be found, which it was thought would facilitate the examination of the adjudications upon these statutes in the hurry of a trial, or on other occasions where a ready access could not be had to them. A List of the Cases cited, with a reference to the original Reports, where they are to be found at large, closes the work, which the Editor commits to the candour and indulgence of his professional brethren. JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE TIME OF ITS FIRST ESTABLISHMENT. The Hon. JOHN JAY, Chief Justice-appointed, September 26, 1789. The Hon. WILLIAM CUSHING, Associate Justice-September 27, 1789. The Hon. JAMES WILSON, Associate Justice-September 29, 1789. The Hon. JOHN BLAIR, Associate Justice-September 30, 1789. The Hon. JAMES IREDELL, Associate Justice-Februa"ry 10, 1790. The Hon. THOMAS JOHNSON, Associate Justice-November 7, 1791. The Hon. WILLIAM PATERSON,* Associate JusticeMarch 4, 1793. The Hon. JOHN RUTLEDGE,† Chief Justice-July 1, 1795. * Appointed in the place of Mr Justice JOHNSON, resigned. |