| Florida v. Georgia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Decided December 15, 1854 | ||||||
| Full case name | Florida v. Georgia | |||||
| Citations | 58 U.S. 478 (more) 17 How. |
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| Holding | ||||||
| The boundary between the State of Florida and the State of Georgia runs along "McNeil's line" according to the survey conducted on behalf of the U.S. government | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | C.J. Taney | |||||
| Dissent | J. Curtis, joined by J. Daniel, J. McLean, J. Campbell | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| 28 U.S.C. § 1251; Art. I, Art, X U.S. Constitution | ||||||
Florida v. Georgia , 58 U.S. 478 (1854)[1] is a 1854 United States Supreme Court case invoking the Court's original jurisdiction to determine boundary disputes between states. In this case the boundary dispute was between the State of Florida and the State of Georgia.
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Florida claimed that the state line was a straight line (called McNeil's line, for the man who surveyed it for the U.S. government) from the confluence of Georgia's Chattahoochee and Flint rivers (forming the Apalachicola River, at a point now under Lake Seminole), east and very slightly south to the beginning of the St. Mary's River, then along it to the Atlantic Ocean.[1]
Georgia claimed that the eastern point of the straight line should be some 30 miles or nearly 50 kilometers south, at Lake Spalding or Lake Randolph, and then along the river.
Other Supreme Court cases involving Georgia boundary disputes include: State of Alabama v. State of Georgia, 64 U.S. 505 (1860), and two Georgia v. South Carolina cases in 1922 and 1990.
Chief Justice Taney delivered the opinion of the Court, ruling in favor of Florida and setting the state boundary line along "McNeil's line" where the state boundary exists today.[1]
Justice Curtis, joined by Justices McLean, Daniel and Campbell, delivered the dissenting opinion, asserting that the United States was effectively made a party through the Attorney General, and such intervention by the United States government is an impermissible intervention in matters of the individual states.[1]