Brown v. Houston’s Empirical Analysis
114 U.S. 622 · 1885
Citation profile
51 federal appellate · 37 district · 141 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 536 later decisions (118 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 1999 · most notably Ala Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States (1935), Swift Company v. United States (1905)
51 federal appellate · 37 district · 141 state decisions — followed in 34 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 Gibbons v. Ogden · Paul v. Virginia · Brown v. Maryland · Aaron Cooley v. The Board of Wardens of the Port of Philadelphia to the Use of the Society for the Relief of Distressed Pilots Their Widows and Children Same · The Lottawanna
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 536 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It was imposed, after tlie coal had arrived at its destination and was put up for sale. The coal had come to its place of rest for final disposal or use, and was a commodity in the market of New Orleans. It might continue in that condition for a year or two years or only for a day. It had become a part of the general mass of property in the state.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. In re May · Ex parte Brown““1. The term ‘imports’ as-used in that clause in the Constitution which declare that ‘No State shall, without the consent of Congress, law any imposts or duties on imports or exports,’ does not refer to articles carried from one State to another, but only to articles imported from foreign countries into the United States.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““It might continue in that condition for a year or tiro years, or for'only a day. * * * We do not mean to say iliat if a ¡ax collector should be stationed at every ferry and railroad depot in the city of New York, charged with the duty of collecting a tax on every wagon load or car load of produce or merchandise brought into the city, that it would not be a regulation of and restraint upon interstate commerce, so far as the tax should be imposed on articles brought from other states. We think it would be, and that if would be an encroachment upon the exclusive power of congress.””
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.