Penniman's Case’s Empirical Analysis
103 U.S. 714 · 1880
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 2 district · 36 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 66 later decisions (11 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 1982 · most notably Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell (1934), Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham (1969)
2 federal appellate · 2 district · 36 state decisions — followed in 14 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Sturges v. Crowninshield · Von Hoffman v. City of Quincy · Bronson v. Kinzie · Packet Company v. Keokuk · Tennessee v. Sneed
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 66 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“‘ ‘ The distinction- between the obligation of a contract and the remedy given by the legislature to enforce that obligation has been taken at the bar, and exists in the nature of things. Without impairing the obligation of the contract, the remedy may certainly be modified as the -wisdom of the nation shall direct. Confinement of the debtor may be a punishment for not performing his contract, or may be allowed as a means of inducing him to perform it; but the state may refuse to inflict this punishment, -or may -withhold this means, and leave the contract in full force. Imprisonment is no part of the contract, and simply to release the prisoner does not impair its obligation.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Beverly v. Barnitz“(I)n modes of proceeding and forms to enforce the contract the legislature has the control, and may enlarge, limit, or alter them, provided it does not deny a remedy or so embarrass it with conditions or restrictions as seriously to impair the value of the right.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.