Missouri v. Kansas

Citations

• 213 U.S. 78
• 29 S. Ct. 417
• 53 L. Ed. 706
• 1909 U.S. LEXIS 1855

Syllabus

<p>The boundary line between, Missouri and Kansas is and remains, notwithstanding its shifting position by erosion, the middle of the Missouri River from a point opposite the middle of the mouth of the Kansas or Kaw River.</p> <p>The act of June 7,1836, c. 86, 5 Stat. 34, altering the western boundary of Missouri, is to be construed in the light of extrinsic facts; and, as so .construed, its object was not to add territory to the State but to substitute the Missouri River as a practical boundary, so far as possible, instead of an ideal line along a meridian.</p> <p>The result of this decision is that an island in the Missouri River west of the centre of its main channel, as that channel now exists, belongs to Kansas, notwithstanding such island is east of the original boundary line of Missouri.</p>