What follows is every case decided on February 29, 1892. This is in honor of my wife, born on February 29. Page numbers are to 143 U.S.
Union Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Hanford, p. 187: buyer of mortgaged property is first in line for payment of mortgage and original mortgagor not liable if buyer gets extension of time
New Orleans City & Lake R.R. Co. v. New Orleans, p. 192: City charter giving tax break to railroad company did not prevent it from adding different tax later on
Waterman v. Alden, p. 196: Will provision stating that brother still owed estate (all other intrafamilial debts being forgiven) did not apply to debts incurred after date of Will
In re Woods, p. 202: personal injury action where only issue was collateral estoppel effect of dismissal at close of plaintiff’s case was not important enough to grant cert
Horner v. United States, p. 207: prisoner properly moved from New York to Illinois for trial because that was where his crime of “delivering” gambling material through the mails was committed as defined by statute (he had mailed it in New York but addressed it to a person in Illinois)
Lawrence v. Nelson, p. 215: claimant who had obtained judgment against administrator in another state not bound by in-state requirement that claims against estate be filed within two years
Hammond v. Hopkins, p. 224: certificates of two long-dead justices of the peace admissible and outweighed testimony of wife that she never heard of property deed nor signed it (also at issue was a Will touchingly leaving “my little slave boy Frank to my daughter Victoria Hopkins”)
Washburn & Moen Mfg. Co. v. Beat 'Em All Barbed Wire Co., p. 275: competing patents for “improved” barbed wire (diagrams are in the opinion); issues are whether one was devoid for “want of novelty”, proof needed to show that later-patented product was in use first, and whether date of application or date of patent is relevant (it’s the date of application)
Michigan Ins. Bank v. Eldred, p. 293: bank’s change of status during lawsuit from state bank to national bank did not change the issues
Ludeling v. Chaffe, p. 301: assignee in bankruptcy has rights superior to pre-bankruptcy creditor
Horn Silver Mining Co. v. People, p. 306: New York tax on all capital stock of corporations doing business in the state even including out of state stock does not violate Dormant Commerce Clause
Chandler v. Pomeroy, p. 318: enforcing agreement between all testator’s children to divvy up estate equally and to cancel the Will “to get the property out of the hands of the lawyers” (suit brought by executor named in Will)
Chicago & Grand Trunk R.R. Co. v. Wellman, p. 339: error to instruct jury that statute setting railroad rates was unconstitutional (effect of which was to necessarily hold that rates testified to were unreasonable)
Briggs v. United States, p. 346: allowing suit by planter for cotton seized by Union Army during Civil War to go forward; suit was allowed by the Captured and Abandoned Property Act of 1863, cotton was bought in transaction between private parties without C.S.A. involvement, and United States could not use Statute of Frauds as a defense (this is an 1892 ruling because claim couldn’t be brought until court of claims was given jurisdiction in 1888)
Nebraska v. Iowa, p. 359: in original jurisdiction case, awarding some land to Nebraska and some to Iowa because in some places Missouri River changed due to accretion (change in boundary) but above Omaha by avulsion (no change)
Winona & St. Peter R.R. Co. v. Plainview, p. 371: out-of-state parties declared to be bona fide purchasers by federal court based on state court decision holding bonds valid did not lose their rights when state appellate court reversed
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