Kansas v. Missouri

Background

The dispute was between the State of Kansas (the complainant) and the State of Missouri over where the boundary between them runs along the Missouri River. The case was submitted on pleadings, evidence, exhibits, argument, and a Master’s Report. Kansas sought a boundary different in some places, including claims about the Forbes Bend area.

Reasoning

The Court’s core question was where the state line should lie along the river. The Court decided the boundary is the middle line of the main navigable channel of the Missouri River as the river flowed when Kansas filed its complaint, subject to written stipulations the parties made. The decree gives a long, specific metes-and-bounds description that follows the river from the 40th parallel south to the mouth of the Kansas River. The Court denied the parts of Kansas’s bill that conflicted with this decree, especially the contested Forbes Bend claims.

Real world impact

The decree assigns sovereignty and control of the described river lands to the state in whose side of the channel they lie and permanently enjoins both states and their people from disputing the awarded territory. The Court split costs equally, retained jurisdiction to enter a later order about placing boundary monuments after possible land exchanges, and kept the case on the docket to enforce the decree. This is a final boundary judgment defining which state governs specific river areas.