Smith v. McCullough’s Empirical Analysis
104 U.S. 25 · 1881
Citation profile
31 federal appellate · 15 district · 20 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 87 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2014 · most notably Kansas City Southern Railway Company v. Guardian Trust Company (1916), New Orleans Pacific Railway Co. v. Parker (1892)
31 federal appellate · 15 district · 20 state decisions — followed in 11 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.
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.
““ ‘That question is within a very narrow compass. It must he solved so as to give effect to the intention of the parties, to he collected as well from the words of the instrument as from the circumstances attending its execution.’”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Notwithstanding the broad terms of the order appointing him [the receiver], we are satisfied that the court had no purpose to appoint him receiver of any property except that covered by the mortgage.””
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.