When the US Supreme Court along with the rest of the new federal government moved in 1791 from the former capital, New York City, to the nation's temporary capital in Philadelphia, Dallas was appointed the Supreme Court's first unofficial and unpaid Supreme Court Reporter. (Court reporters in that age received no salary, but were expected to profit from the publication and sale of their compiled decisions.) Dallas continued to collect and publish Pennsylvania and other decisions, adding federal Supreme Court cases to his reports. Dallas published four volumes of decisions during his tenure as Reporter, known as the Dallas 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"). As such, volumes 1–4 of United States Reports correspond to volumes 1–4 of Dallas Reports. The dual citation form of, for example, Hunter v. Fairfax's Devisee is 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 305 (1796).
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).[3] 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 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) were decided, the Court comprised six of the following eleven justices at one time:
First, the ex post facto clause of the United States Constitution applies to criminal laws that have at least one of four effects: (a) creates a crime and penalty that before passage of the law which was not illegal; (b) makes an existing crime of greater severity than it was when committed; (c) inflicts a greater punishment to an existing crime than applied before the law; (d) changes rules of evidence to make less, or different, evidence than the law required at the time of the crime to convict the offender.
Second, the Court lacked authority to nullify state laws that may violate that state's own constitution.
Third, no one should be compelled to do what the laws do not require; nor to refrain from acts which the laws permit.
Fourth, a state legislative act does not violate of the ex post facto clause if there is nothing done by the parties that is affected by the state law.
Georgia v. Brailsford
In Georgia v. Brailsford, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 1 (1794), is significant as the only reported jury trial held by the US Supreme Court. During the American Revolution, the state of Georgia passed a law that sequestered debts owed to British creditors. The Treaty of Paris, however, asserted the validity of debts held by creditors on both sides. The case was filed directly in the United States Supreme Court, rather than in a lower trial court, under the Supreme Court's constitutionally-defined original jurisdiction.
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 . . .
^Anne Ashmore, DATES OF SUPREME COURT DECISIONS AND ARGUMENTS, Library, Supreme Court of the United States, 26 December 2018.
^Cohen, Morris and O'Connor, Sharon H. A Guide to the Early Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States, (Fred B. Rothman & Co, Littleton Colorado, 1995.
^This is the only jury trial ever conducted in the presence of the United States Supreme Court. Shelfer, Lochlan F. (October 2013). "Special Juries in the Supreme Court". yalelawjournal.org. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
^ abNote on Respublica: Some early Pennsylvania cases include the title Respublica. Res publica is a Latin form of the term "Commonwealth," meaning in this context the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." Pennsylvania is one of four states (along with Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kentucky) to refer to itself as a "Commonwealth." It is interchangeable with "State." In the early 19th Century the English term Commonwealth replaced Respublica in new Pennsylvania case names.
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