Dent v. Ferguson’s Empirical Analysis
132 U.S. 50 · 1889
Citation profile
37 federal appellate · 5 district · 17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 84 later decisions (10 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 1995 · most notably Olmstead v. United States (1928), Sturm v. Boker (1893)
37 federal appellate · 5 district · 17 state decisions — followed in 10 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 United States v. Throckmorton · Grymes v. Sanders · Sullivan v. Portland and Kennebec Railroad Company · Johnson v. Waters · Brooks v. Martin
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 84 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““But, if a party seeks relief in equity, he must be able to show that on his part there has been honesty and fair dealing. If he has been engaged in an illegal business and been cheated, equity will not help him.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A new contract founded on a new and independent consideration, if fair and lawful, although in relation to property respecting which there had been unlawful or fraudulent transactions between the parties, will be determined by the courts on its own merits; and if the new consideration be valid and adequate it will be enforced.””
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.