Contested Election of Cusick’s Empirical Analysis
1890
Citation profile
29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 32 later decisions — most recently April 1963 · most notably Winston v. Moore (1914), Commonwealth Ex Rel. Fortney v. Wozney (1937)
29 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.
Relationships
Relies on Page v. Allen · Bladen v. Philadelphia · Patterson v. Barlow · Borough of Pottsville v. Curry · In re Contested Election of McDonough
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.
““It was urged on behalf of the appellant that at least some of these requirements are in excess of the legislative authority. . . . We are unable to see anything in these requirements of the act of 1874, which, properly construed, are unreasonable, or in conflict with the constitution. It certainly imposes no hardship upon the voter to require him to swear, ‘to the best of his knowledge and belief, when and where he was born’. There are few persons of sufficient intelligence to cast a ballot who have not some knowledge and belief of the time and place of their birth, and those who have neither knowledge nor belief can say so; the law does not require impossible things. “. . . It was urged that it would often be impracticable, if not impossible, to give this information with precise accuracy, and that it is hard to be confronted with the loss of his vote on the one hand, and an indictment for perjury on the other. A reasonable compliance with the law does not subject to either peril. . . . ‘‘Is there any practical difficulty in the elector’s stating when and where the tax was assessed, or when and where and to whom paid? A reasonable certainty in these matters is all that is required in the affidavit. . . . “The voter must also state where the tax was assessed. Surely there is neither hardship nor inconvenience in this. The voter knows in what township, borough, or ward his property is situate, and in which it is assessed. . . . “The act further requires that the affidavit sha”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Stadtmiller's Appeal““There must be a means of distinguishing the qualified from the unqualified [that is, the court was speaking of electors], and this can be done only by a tribunal to decide, and by evidence upon which a decision can be made. The constitution does not provide these; and therefore, the legislature must establish the tribunal and the means of ascertaining who are and who are not the qualified electors, and must designate the evidence which shall identify and prove to this tribunal the persons and qualifications of the electors.””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Stadtmiller's Appeal““Lightly as many persons appear to regard the right of citizenship, the history of the government fully bears out the assertion that the exercise of the elective franchise has been productive of a vast amount of fraud. And it is a kind of fraud that strikes at the integrity and imperils the existence of free government. . . . The legislature has from time to time passed various laws to regulate elections. Their object has always been to preserve the purity of the ballot.””
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.