United States v. 422 Casks of Wine

United States v. 422 Casks of Wine
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided February 15, 1828
Full case name	United States v. 422 Casks of Wine, Hazard & Williams Claimants
Docket no.	26-547
Citations	26 U.S. 547 (more) 1 Pet. 547; 7 L. Ed. 257)
Case history
Prior	The Sarah, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 391 (1823)
Holding
Claimants in in rem cases must put claims under oath.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Marshall Associate Justices Bushrod Washington · William Johnson Gabriel Duvall · Joseph Story Smith Thompson · Robert Trimble
Case opinion
Majority	Story
Laws applied
Judiciary Act of 1789

United States v. 422 Casks of Wine, 26 U.S. (1 Pet.) 547 (1828), is an 1828 United States Supreme Court civil forfeiture case between the United States and 422 casks of Malaga wine.^[1] The case was brought after the United States moved to seize the wine on the grounds that it had been deliberately mislabeled as sherry to get a tax drawback, and the buyers objected. The original trial was ruled in favor of the United States but was ordered to be retried after errors were discovered concerning jurisdiction. In the subsequent retrial, the Supreme Court ruled against the United States; however, it did grant a certificate of seizure on probable cause.^[1]

The defendant in this case was an object rather than a person, making this a jurisdiction in rem case, power over objects, rather than the more familiar in personam case over persons.