Hope Natural Gas Co. v. Federal Power Commission’s Empirical Analysis
134 F.2d 287 · 1943
Citation profile
23 federal appellate · 1 district · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 32 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 1978 · most notably Federal Power Commission v. Hope Natural Gas Co. (1944), Mobil Oil Corp. v. Federal Power Commission (1973)
23 federal appellate · 1 district · 5 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.
Appellate journey
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 717 · 15 U.S.C. § 79
Relies on Nebbia v. People of State of New York · Smyth v. Ames · Munn v. Illinois · Simpson v. Shepard · Rochester Telephone Corporation v. United States
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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The fundamental difference between quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial power is that the one is concerned primarily with prescribing regulations for the future, the other with determining rights in the light of what has occurred in the past. Cf. Baer Bros. Mercantile Co. v. Denver & R. G. R. Co., 233 U.S. 479, 486 , 34 S.Ct. 641 , 58 L.Ed. 1055 . The Natural Gas Act shows clearly that it was the intention of Congress to give the Commission quasi-legislative power, i. e. regulatory power as to future rates; but there is no indication of any intention to clothe it with judicial or quasi-judicial powers with respect to past charges or practices, such as was vested in the Interstate Commerce Commission by section 9 of the Interstate Commerce Act. 49 U.S.C.A. § 9 . As the Commission itself says, it was not given authority to fix rates for the past or to award reparations on account of past rates. If it was not given the power to fix past rates, or award reparations based upon their unreasonableness, it certainly was given no power to do the same thing indirectly by making findings of fdet as to past rates to be given effect in rate proceedings before state commissions. No intention on the part of Congress to vest any such unusual power in a commission ought to be indulged unless conferred in the plainest terms; and not only is it not plainly given here, but such power cannot be spelled out of the statutes on any theory of interpretation with which we are familiar.””
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.