Williams v. Conger’s Empirical Analysis
125 U.S. 397 · 1888
Citation profile
25 federal appellate · 4 district · 19 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 65 later decisions (6 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 1975 · most notably Pierce v. Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad (1899), Stokes v. United States (1895)
25 federal appellate · 4 district · 19 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.
Relationships
Relies on Moore v. United States · Clark v. Keith · Gonzales v. · Airhart v. Massieu
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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“may determine the genuineness of a signature by comparing it with other handwriting of the party- By the general rule of the common law this cannot be done either by the court or a jury, and that is the general rule of this country. . . . But the general rule of the common law, disallowing a comparison of handwriting as proof of signature, has exceptions equally as well settled as the rule itself. One of these exceptions is, that if a paper admitted to be in the handwriting-of the party, or to have been subscribed by him, is in evidence for some other purpose in the case, the signature or paper in question may be compared with it by the jury.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““There being two documents in question in the cause, one of which is known to he in the handwriting of a party, the other alleged, but denied to be so, no human power can prevent the Jury from comparing them with a view to the question of genuineness; and therefore it is best for the court to enter with the jury into that inquiry, and to do the best it can under circumstances which cannot be helped.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““But whore other writings, admitted or proved to be genuine, are properly in evidence for other purposes, the handwriting of such instruments may be compared by the Jury with that of the instrument or signature in question, and its genuineness inferred from such comparison.””
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.