Mining Company v. Cullins’s Empirical Analysis
104 U.S. 176 · 1881
Citation profile
15 federal appellate · 8 district · 40 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 87 later decisions (6 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2023 · most notably United States ex rel. Hill v. American Surety Co. (1906), Equitable Surety Co. v. United States ex rel. McMillan (1914)
15 federal appellate · 8 district · 40 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 Barnes v. District of Columbia · Davis v. Alvord · Stryker v. . Cassidy · 26 N.J. Eq. 389 - Mutual Benefit Life Insurance v. Rowand
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 87 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“‘•lie was not a contractor. Tlie services rendered by him were not of a professional character, such as those of a mining engineer. He was the overseer and foreman of the body of miners who performed the manual labor upon the mine. He planned and personally superintended and directed the work, with a view to develop the mine and make it a successful venture. He appears from the findings to have performed duties similar to those required of the foreman of a gang of track hands upon a railroad, or a force of mechanics engaged in building a house. Such duties are very different from those which belong to the general superintendent of a railroad, or the contractor for erecting a house. Their performance may well be called work and labor. They require the personal attention and supervision of the foreman, and occasionally, in an emergency, or for an example, it becomes necessary for him to assist with his own hands. Such duties cannot be performed without much physical exertion, which, while not so severe as that demanded of the workmen under the control of the foreman, is nevertheless as really work and labor. Bodily toil, as well as some skill and knowledge in directing the work, is required for their successful performance. We think that the discharge of such duties may well be called work and labor, and that the District Court rightfully declared the person who performed them entitled to a lien, under the law of the territory.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Tt is somewhat difficult to draw the line between the kind of work and labor which is entitled to a lien, and that which is mere professional or supervisory employment, not fairly to be included in those terms.” Mining Co. v. Cullins, 104 U. S. 179 .”
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.