Buford v. Houtz’s Empirical Analysis
133 U.S. 320 · 1890
Citation profile
59 federal appellate · 15 district · 78 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 229 later decisions (17 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2025 · most notably United States v. Grimaud (1911), United States v. Midwest Oil Co. (1915)
59 federal appellate · 15 district · 78 state decisions — followed in 15 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 Forbes v. Gracey
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 229 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Upon the whole, we see no equity in the relief sought by the appellants in this case, which undertakes to deprive the defendants of this recognized right to permit their cattle to run at large over the lands of the United States and feed upon the grasses found in them, while, under pretense of owning a small proportion of the land which is the subject of controversy, they ■ themselves obtain the monopoly of this valuable privilege.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“* * * an implied license, growing out of the custom of nearly a hundred years, * * *.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The whole system of the control of the public lands of the United States, as it has been conducted by the government under acts of congress, shows a liberality in regard to their use which has been uniform and remarkable. * * * All the people who had cattle that they wished to graze upon the public lands, permitted them to run at large over the whole region, fattening upon the public lands of the United States and upon the uninclosed lands of the private individual without let or hindrance. * * * It has never been understood that in those regions and in this country, in the progress of its settlement, the principle prevailed that a man was bound to keep his cattle confined within his own grounds, or else would be liable for their trespasses upon the uninclosed grounds of his neighbors. Such a principle was ill adapted to the nature and condition of the country at that time.””
2 later decisions 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.