NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY v. SMITH (1898)

NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY v. SMITH
	Term: 1897
Important Dates
	Argued: March 21, 1898
	Decided: May 31, 1898
Outcome
	Reversed and remanded
Vote
	8-1
Majority
	Henry Billings Brown • Melville Weston Fuller • Horace Gray • Joseph McKenna • Rufus Wheeler Peckham • George Shiras • Edward Douglass White
Concurring
	David Josiah Brewer
Dissenting
	John Marshall Harlan

NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY v. SMITH is a case that was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on May 31, 1898. The case was argued before the court on March 21, 1898.

In an 8-1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the lower court and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the Court's opinion. The case originated from the North Dakota U.S. Circuit Court for (all) District(s) of North Dakota.

For a full list of cases decided in the 1890s, click here. For a full list of cases decided by the Fuller Court, click here.

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About the case

Subject matter: Economic Activity - state and territorial land claims
Petitioner: Railroad
Petitioner state: Unknown
Respondent type: Owner, landlord, or claimant to ownership, fee interest, or possession of land as well as chattels
Respondent state: Unknown
Citation: 171 U.S. 260
How the court took jurisdiction: Writ of error
What type of decision was made: Opinion of the court (orally argued)
Who was the chief justice: Melville Weston Fuller
Who wrote the majority opinion: George Shiras

These data points were accessed from The Supreme Court Database, which also attempts to categorize the ideological direction of the court's ruling in each case. This case's ruling was categorized as liberal.