Swain v. . Phelps’s Empirical Analysis
1899
Citation profile
6 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently January 1994
6 state decisions
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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is no excuse that the sheriff had no corrupt or bad intentions and that the plaintiff was saved from any resulting injury by the voluntary appearance of the defendant . . . This amercement of $100 is given for the neglect to. serve process when no sufficient cause is shown, and none has been shown. “The highest considerations of public policy require that sheriffs shall not be negligent in the service of process committed to them. . . . Ignorance of the officer is no excuse. . . . Whether any damage was done to the plaintiff is immaterial. The amercement is for failure to discharge an official duty.” Id. at 44 , 34 S.E. at 111 .”
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.