List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases,_volume_242

List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 242

List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 242

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This is a list of cases reported in volume 242 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1916 and 1917.

Quick Facts Supreme Court of the United States, Established ...

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 242 U.S.

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).[1] 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 volume 242 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

More information Portrait, Justice ...

Notable Case in 242 U.S.

Caminetti v. United States

In Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 (1917), the Supreme Court interpreted the scope of the Mann Act. The Court decided the Mann Act applied not only to purposes of prostitution but also to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons, and that consensual extramarital sex falls within the definition of "immoral sex." The case was one of the first in which the Court embraced the “plain meaning rule”. This is a form of legislative interpretation that focuses strongly on the literal text of a statute. In its most extreme form, the plain meaning rule does not point outside the words of the statute at any other sources to find legislative intent, if the Court decides that the rule is "plain" from its text alone.

Citation style

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.

The Judiciary Act of 1891 created the United States Courts of Appeals and reassigned the jurisdiction of most routine appeals from the district and circuit courts to these appellate courts. The Act created nine new courts that were originally known as the "United States Circuit Courts of Appeals." The new courts had jurisdiction over most appeals of lower court decisions. The Supreme Court could review either legal issues that a court of appeals certified or decisions of court of appeals by writ of certiorari. On January 1, 1912, the effective date of the Judicial Code of 1911, the old Circuit Courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. District Courts.

Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.

List of cases in volume 242 U.S.

More information Case Name, Page & year ...

Notes and references

    1. "Supreme Court Research Guide". Georgetown Law Library. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

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