Case Citator › Maxwell v. Dow

Maxwell v. Dow

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Overruled in part
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
176 U.S. 581
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
9 of 9
Citing cases (total)
9
Treatment dates
1968
Overruled in part
A reviewed court has overruled part of this case’s holding. Maxwell v. Dow was overruled in part: all 9 flagged citations have been read, and the confirmed treatment is listed below. Duncan v. Louisiana held that states must provide a jury trial for serious criminal charges and identified Maxwell's contrary position on applying the Bill of Rights to states as repudiated.
More on how this was screened

Duncan distinguished Maxwell's separate holding allowing fewer than twelve jurors because Louisiana had provided no jury. The Constitution Annotated lists Maxwell as overruled by Duncan; Duncan's opinion makes clear that this treatment concerned the right to a jury, not its size.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

9 later cases cite Maxwell v. Dow; 9 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on Maxwell v. Dow?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Overruled in part

  • The Supreme Court held that states must provide jury trials for serious criminal charges, contrary to Maxwell's categorical position that the Bill of Rights did not apply to states.

    Duncan v. Louisiana · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    Maxwell held that no provision of the Bill of Rights applied to the States— a position long since repudiated — and that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not prevent a State from trying a defendant for a noncapital offense with fewer than 12 men on the jury. It did not deal with a case in which no jury at all had been provided.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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