County of Jasper v. Ballou’s Empirical Analysis
103 U.S. 745 · 1880
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 14 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 31 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 1966 · most notably Texas Ry Co v. Gentry (1896), Kocsis v. Chicago Park District (1935)
7 federal appellate · 14 state decisions
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 Board of Supervisors of Schuyler County v. People ex rel. Rock Island & Alton Railroad · Harward v. St. Clair & Monroe Levee & Drainage Co. · President of Keithsburg v. Frick
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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““"Whether these [old] bonds were valid was, so far as any direct decisions were concerned, an open question, and certainly not free from doubt. Under these circumstances the question was directly put to the people of the county, in a manner authorized by law, whether they would recognize these bonds as ‘binding and subsisting legal obligations,’ and issue in lieu of them other bonds having 20 years to run and bearing 7 per cent, interest instead of 10 ; and they by their votes said they would. * * * If the people intended to rely on their defenses to the old bonds, then was the time for them to speak and by their vote say that they would not recognize them as binding obligations. By voting the other way, they, in effect, accepted them as legal and subsisting, * * * and said to the holders ff their proposition was accepted, no question of illegality would be raised. Their offer having been accepted, they are now estopped from insisting upon an irregularity which they have by their votes voluntarily waived, with a full knowledge of the facts. * * * As was; very properly said below by the learned circuit judge, 1 there must be an end of these contests and defenses some time or other.’ ””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““There must be a time when the people in their political capacity are concluded. by their contracts as much as individuals, and we think that where the people of a county, at an election held according to law, authorize their corporate or political representatives to treat certain outstanding county obligations as ‘properly authorized by law’ for the purpose of negotiating a settlement with the holders, and the settlement which was contemplated has been made, all contests as to th‘e validity of the obligations must be considered as ended.””
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.