Johnson v. Chisholm’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate ·

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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But, after all, it is a matter of no moment that Madame Faure may not have understood the true theory of the operation. Her opinion is not material. The great fact is that she devised and described a machine for hulling green peas capable of operating by impact and incapable of operating (at least to any considerable extent) in any other way. The organization of the Faure machine and the speed of its beaters are such as to render hulling by abrasion practically impossible. In the nature of the case, the operation of the Faure machine is by impact. This is the principle of the apparatus.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Chisholm v. Fleming · Chisholm v. Randolph Canning Co.

2. ““I dissent from so much of the foregoing opinion of the majority of the court as relates to patent No. 421,244, granted to Chisholms, for an improvement in the method of hulling peas, and commonly called the ‘podder process.’ I am of opinion that this patent should be sustained as a true invention of a patentable process. Its usefulness cannot be disputed, nor do I think its validity is open to attack. A careful examination of the Faure machine convinces me that it cannot be sustained as an anticipation of the invention of the patent here in suit. I do not find, either in the original patent to Madame Faure nor in the specification and claims of the first addition thereto, any hint of the method of hulling peas by impact.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Chisholm v. Fleming

3. ““The machine described, in this patent for hulling the peas on the vines is the machine of the podder-process patent (No. 421,244), with such slight modifications as are necessary for the treatment of the larger mass of material. The method pursued in the two instances is the same, the only difference being that in the former case the blows by the beaters are applied to the pods after being stripped from the vines, while in the latter case the blows are given to the pods when still attached to the vines. The two processes, although slightly differing in respect to the. form of the material treated, are strictly analogous. The work is done substantially by the same means and with the like result.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Chisholm v. Fleming