Handly's Lessee v. Anthony
Encyclopedia
Handly's Lessee v. Anthony, 18 U. S. 374 (1820), is a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States
which held that the proper boundary between the states
of Indiana
and Kentucky
was the low-water mark on the western and northwestern bank of the Ohio River
. Motion by the plaintiff, Handly's lessee, to eject inhabitants of a peninsula in the Ohio River (which was at times temporarily cut off from Indiana by high water) was denied.
In 1606, during European colonization of the Americas
, James I of England
granted the Charter of 1606
to the newly-established Virginia Company
, asserting royal title to Native American
-occupied land between the 34th and 45th latitudes and 100 miles (160.9 km) inland, and permitting the Virginia Company to establish colonies there. The Virginia Company's subsidiary, the Plymouth Company
, was given title to land between the 38th and 45th parallel, while another subsidiary, the London Company
, was given title to land between the 34th and 41st parallels. The charter created a conflicting title to the overlapping area between the 38th and 41st parallels, but since no colonies were planned for the area the conflict did not initially create problems. In 1609, James I redefined the Colony of Virginia's boundaries so that the northern boundary projected northwest from the coast, as well as asserting title to all land west to the Pacific Ocean
.
Conflicting land claims as well as claims that land grants extended to the Pacific Ocean proved highly contentious issues after the American Revolution
. To help resolve the issue, in 1781 Virginia agreed to surrender to the United States federal government all title to its land claims west of the Ohio River
. In making its cession, Virginia defined as its border the Ohio River
, and required that Congress use the river as a border between the nascent state of Kentucky and any states fashioned out of the unsettled territory to the north. Title was transferred in 1784, and the United States Congress
passed the Land Ordinance of 1784, Land Ordinance of 1785
, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
to turn these lands into territories and (eventually) states. The Northwest Ordinance created the Northwest Territory
, which encompassed the modern states
of Illinois
, Indiana
, Ohio
, Michigan
, Wisconsin
, and a portion of Minnesota
. Kentucky remained unorganized, but its statehood was considered imminent. After 10 constitutional conventions and three statehood enabling acts passed by the Virginia legislature, Kentucky
was admitted as a state on June 1, 1792. In preparation for Ohio statehood, the area encompassed by the modern state of Ohio was separated from the Northwest Territory on July 4, 1800, and the remaining territory renamed the Indiana Territory
. The area that is now the modern state of Michigan was separated from the Indiana Territory in 1805 and incorporated as the Territory of Michigan. But with settlement of the area rapidly increasing, the area comprising the modern state of Indiana was reorganized in 1809 as the "Indiana Territory," with the remainder of the old Indiana Territory to the west organized as the Territory of Illinois. Indiana was admitted to statehood on December 9, 1816.
The Ohio River forms the border between Indiana and Kentucky. At one point, the westward-flowing Ohio River formed a sharp meander
. Across the narrowest point of the neck of land ran a dry channel which filled with water only when the river was about 10 feet (3 m) above flood stage. Two creeks emptied this channel (flowing northwest), and two other creeks ran eastward and westward along the channel to empty into the Ohio River. The peninsula formed by the meander was settled, and the individuals living there long believed themselves to be under the juridiction of the state of Indiana. On January 27, 1810, the state of Kentucky enacted legislation asserting title over the river bed and all islands in the river up to the northwest bank of the Ohio River. Consequently, Kentucky granted to Handly title to the peninsula in question. Handly subsequently leased this land to a tenant, who brought suit against Anthony, a citizen of Indiana who had been granted title to the land by that state. Handly's lessee sought to have Anthony ejected from the land.
The district court held for the defendant Anthony, and plaintiff Handly's lessee appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
John Marshall
delivered the opinion of the court.
Marshall first reviewed the facts of the case, including the various land grants of Virginia, the geography of the land in question, competing requests for instructions to the jury in the trial court, and the trial court's decision. The plaintiff had appealed on the basis of two questions: First, whether the land did, in fact, lie within the juridsiction of Kentucky and, second, as to the trial court's instruction to the jury defining what the "river" constituted (e.g., did it include meanders). Marshall argued the two questions are essentially the same, and addressed them as such.
The issue was that Virginia's cession to the United States declared the river, not a bank of the river, to be the proper boundary. In a major statement about interstate boundaries, Marshall declared:
It was well established, Marshall said, that the creation of new land on the Indiana side of the river would clearly belong to Indiana. But the issue in the instant case was land delineated by the ebb and flow of the river. "Common consent" and "common convenience," Marshall said, had long established that the low water mark was the border mark, for otherwise states and nations would find their jurisdiction expanding and contracting with the seasons and the tides.
Based on this fact, Virginia must have intended for the Ohio River itself to be the boundary between Indiana and Kentucky and not a strip of land which was subject to the rise and fall of the water levels. The majority refused to consider Kentucky's request that the Court define what constitutes an island, for not only was that request asking the Court to rule on a hypothetical question but to ask the Court to rule on an issue not based on the facts before it. Marshall noted that Kentucky itself had made this question moot in its Act of January 27, 1810, by asserting that the state's border only extended to the low-water mark of the northwestern side of the Ohio River (clearly limiting its claim only to that and not to land the river might cut off from Indiana during high water). This proved critical to the Court. Marshall concluded:
Marshall admitted that the case involved highly complex, technical details. But "public convenience, and the avoidance of controversy... ought not to be defeated by those technical perplexities which may sometimes influence contracts between individuals." Marshall also briefly noted that the inhabitants of the peninsula had long been considered by both states to be citizens of Indiana, and the Court held that the recent disturbance of these assumptions should not hold as much weight as the longer-held views.
The judgment of the district court was affirmed, and the land held to belong to the state of Indiana.
wrote a stinging dissent in which he argued the Court had improperly made a determination regarding the law of demurrer
. Ohio continued to pursue its suit, and in Ohio v. Kentucky, 444 U.S. 335 (1980) the Supreme Court largely disregarded the decision in Handly's Lessee regarding accretion of new land and held that 1792 low-water mark was the only correct boundary between the two states (giving Kentucky part of the Ohio River shoreline on the north side of the Ohio River).
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
which held that the proper boundary between the states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
was the low-water mark on the western and northwestern bank of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. Motion by the plaintiff, Handly's lessee, to eject inhabitants of a peninsula in the Ohio River (which was at times temporarily cut off from Indiana by high water) was denied.
Background
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
, James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
granted the Charter of 1606
Charter of 1606
The Charter of 1606, also known as the First Charter of Virginia, is a document from King James I of England to the Virginia Company assigning land rights to colonists for the stated purpose of propagating the Christian religion...
to the newly-established Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
, asserting royal title to Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
-occupied land between the 34th and 45th latitudes and 100 miles (160.9 km) inland, and permitting the Virginia Company to establish colonies there. The Virginia Company's subsidiary, the Plymouth Company
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company was an English joint stock company founded in 1606 by James I of England with the purpose of establishing settlements on the coast of North America.The Plymouth Company was one of two companies, along with the London Company, chartered with such...
, was given title to land between the 38th and 45th parallel, while another subsidiary, the London Company
London Company
The London Company was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel ...
, was given title to land between the 34th and 41st parallels. The charter created a conflicting title to the overlapping area between the 38th and 41st parallels, but since no colonies were planned for the area the conflict did not initially create problems. In 1609, James I redefined the Colony of Virginia's boundaries so that the northern boundary projected northwest from the coast, as well as asserting title to all land west to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Conflicting land claims as well as claims that land grants extended to the Pacific Ocean proved highly contentious issues after the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. To help resolve the issue, in 1781 Virginia agreed to surrender to the United States federal government all title to its land claims west of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. In making its cession, Virginia defined as its border the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, and required that Congress use the river as a border between the nascent state of Kentucky and any states fashioned out of the unsettled territory to the north. Title was transferred in 1784, and the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed the Land Ordinance of 1784, Land Ordinance of 1785
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States...
, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787...
to turn these lands into territories and (eventually) states. The Northwest Ordinance created the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, which encompassed the modern states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and a portion of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Kentucky remained unorganized, but its statehood was considered imminent. After 10 constitutional conventions and three statehood enabling acts passed by the Virginia legislature, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
was admitted as a state on June 1, 1792. In preparation for Ohio statehood, the area encompassed by the modern state of Ohio was separated from the Northwest Territory on July 4, 1800, and the remaining territory renamed the Indiana Territory
Indiana Territory
The Territory of Indiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, until November 7, 1816, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana....
. The area that is now the modern state of Michigan was separated from the Indiana Territory in 1805 and incorporated as the Territory of Michigan. But with settlement of the area rapidly increasing, the area comprising the modern state of Indiana was reorganized in 1809 as the "Indiana Territory," with the remainder of the old Indiana Territory to the west organized as the Territory of Illinois. Indiana was admitted to statehood on December 9, 1816.
The Ohio River forms the border between Indiana and Kentucky. At one point, the westward-flowing Ohio River formed a sharp meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
. Across the narrowest point of the neck of land ran a dry channel which filled with water only when the river was about 10 feet (3 m) above flood stage. Two creeks emptied this channel (flowing northwest), and two other creeks ran eastward and westward along the channel to empty into the Ohio River. The peninsula formed by the meander was settled, and the individuals living there long believed themselves to be under the juridiction of the state of Indiana. On January 27, 1810, the state of Kentucky enacted legislation asserting title over the river bed and all islands in the river up to the northwest bank of the Ohio River. Consequently, Kentucky granted to Handly title to the peninsula in question. Handly subsequently leased this land to a tenant, who brought suit against Anthony, a citizen of Indiana who had been granted title to the land by that state. Handly's lessee sought to have Anthony ejected from the land.
The district court held for the defendant Anthony, and plaintiff Handly's lessee appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Decision
Chief JusticeChief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
John Marshall
John Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
delivered the opinion of the court.
Marshall first reviewed the facts of the case, including the various land grants of Virginia, the geography of the land in question, competing requests for instructions to the jury in the trial court, and the trial court's decision. The plaintiff had appealed on the basis of two questions: First, whether the land did, in fact, lie within the juridsiction of Kentucky and, second, as to the trial court's instruction to the jury defining what the "river" constituted (e.g., did it include meanders). Marshall argued the two questions are essentially the same, and addressed them as such.
The issue was that Virginia's cession to the United States declared the river, not a bank of the river, to be the proper boundary. In a major statement about interstate boundaries, Marshall declared:
- When a great river is the boundary between two nations or states, if the original property is in neither, and there be no convention respecting it, each holds to the middle of the stream. But when, as in this case, one State is the original proprietor, and grants the territory on one side only, it retains the river within its own domain, and the newly-created State extends to the river only. The river, however, is its boundary.
It was well established, Marshall said, that the creation of new land on the Indiana side of the river would clearly belong to Indiana. But the issue in the instant case was land delineated by the ebb and flow of the river. "Common consent" and "common convenience," Marshall said, had long established that the low water mark was the border mark, for otherwise states and nations would find their jurisdiction expanding and contracting with the seasons and the tides.
Based on this fact, Virginia must have intended for the Ohio River itself to be the boundary between Indiana and Kentucky and not a strip of land which was subject to the rise and fall of the water levels. The majority refused to consider Kentucky's request that the Court define what constitutes an island, for not only was that request asking the Court to rule on a hypothetical question but to ask the Court to rule on an issue not based on the facts before it. Marshall noted that Kentucky itself had made this question moot in its Act of January 27, 1810, by asserting that the state's border only extended to the low-water mark of the northwestern side of the Ohio River (clearly limiting its claim only to that and not to land the river might cut off from Indiana during high water). This proved critical to the Court. Marshall concluded:
- If a river, subject to tides, constituted the boundary of a State, and at flood the waters of the river flowed through a narrow channel, round an extensive body of land, but receded from that channel at ebb, so as to leave the land it surrounded at high water, connected with the main body of the country; this portion of territory would scarcely be considered as belonging to the State on the opposite side of the river, although that State should have the property of the river. The principle that a country bounded by a river extends to low water mark, a principle so natural, and of such obvious convenience as to have been generally adopted, would, we think, apply to that case. We perceive no sufficient reason why it should not apply to this.
Marshall admitted that the case involved highly complex, technical details. But "public convenience, and the avoidance of controversy... ought not to be defeated by those technical perplexities which may sometimes influence contracts between individuals." Marshall also briefly noted that the inhabitants of the peninsula had long been considered by both states to be citizens of Indiana, and the Court held that the recent disturbance of these assumptions should not hold as much weight as the longer-held views.
The judgment of the district court was affirmed, and the land held to belong to the state of Indiana.
Assessment
Handly's Lessee v. Anthony is considered a key ruling in the law of borders. However, its utility in American case law today is not clear. In 1966, the state of Ohio sued Kentucky, seeking to have it granted joint jurisdiction over the Ohio River with Kentucky. In 1971, Ohio filed a motion to have the middle of the river set as the boundary. In Ohio v. Kentucky, 410 U.S. 641 (1973), the Supreme Court permitted Ohio to present its new materials, but nonetheless ruled against the state. Associate Justice William O. DouglasWilliam O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With a term lasting 36 years and 209 days, he is the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court...
wrote a stinging dissent in which he argued the Court had improperly made a determination regarding the law of demurrer
Demurrer
A demurrer is a pleading in a lawsuit that objects to or challenges a pleading filed by an opposing party. The word demur means "to object"; a demurrer is the document that makes the objection...
. Ohio continued to pursue its suit, and in Ohio v. Kentucky, 444 U.S. 335 (1980) the Supreme Court largely disregarded the decision in Handly's Lessee regarding accretion of new land and held that 1792 low-water mark was the only correct boundary between the two states (giving Kentucky part of the Ohio River shoreline on the north side of the Ohio River).