National Bank v. Watsontown Bank’s Empirical Analysis
105 U.S. 217 · 1881
Citation profile
21 federal appellate · 37 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 70 later decisions (4 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2016 · most notably Traer v. Clews (1885), Lipscomb's Adm'r v. Condon (1904)
21 federal appellate · 37 state decisions — followed in 18 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 Johnston v. Laflin · Case v. Bank
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 70 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““This legal relation and proprietary interest, on wbicb it is based, are quite independent of the certificate of ownership, which is mere evidence of title. The complete fact of title may very well exist without it. All that is necessary, when the transfer is required by law to be made upon the books of the corporation, is that the fact should be appropriately recorded in some suitable register or stock list, or otherwise formally entered upon its books. For this purpose the account in a stock ledger, showing the names of the stockholders, the number and amount of the shares belonging to each, and the sources of their title, whether by original subscription and payment or by derivation from others, is quite suitable, and fully meets the requirements of the law.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““A complete transfer of the title to the stock upon the books of the bank, it is not doubted, would have the effect t<^ vest it in the transferee, free from any claim or lien of the bank. The consent of the bank, made necessary to such transfer, is the waiver of its right, as its refusal would be the assertion of it. The transfer, when thus consummated, destroys the relation of membership between the corporation and the old stockholder, with all its incidents, and creates an original relation with the new member, free from all antecedent obligations.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““The statute of Pennsylvania (infra, p. 220), declaring that the stock of a bank shall be transferable only on the books in such manner as the by-laws shall ordain, and that no stockholder shall be authorized to transfer his stock until his debt is discharged or secured to the satisfaction of the directors, does not prohibit the bank from waiving its right, nor the cashier from, acting for them, by an authority, either express or implied.” /”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.