Ellis v. Ward’s Empirical Analysis
1890
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 33 later decisions — most recently May 1946 · most notably Bovay v. H. M. Byllesby & Co. (1944), Winger v. Chicago City Bank & Trust Co. (1946)
2 federal appellate · 29 state decisions — followed in 13 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 Coari v. Olsen · Hightower v. Thornton · Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad v. Hay · Holder v. Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi Ry. Co. · St. Louis & Sandoval Coal & Mining Co. v. Sandoval Coal & Mining Co.
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 33 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The court should have then sustained the general demurrer and dismissed the petition, as it failed to state a cause of action against the defendant corporation. Whatever cause the plaintiff may have had for feeling aggrieved by the conduct of the other two stockholders and directors in voting to themselves salaries as officers of the corporation and refusing to provide a salary for Mm as its president, his petition clearly shows that he could not, under its allegations, recover of the corporation, under either an express or an implied contract. The petition expressly negatived the idea that any corporate action had been taken providing for the payment of a salary, or any compensation whatever, to the president for his services. Hence the plaintiff had to-rely upon an implied contract, and sought to recover for his services as president upon a quantum meruit. It is well settled in all jurisdictions that the directors'of a private corporation are not entitled to salary or other compensation for performing the usual and ordinary duties pertaining to their office, as defined by the charter or by-laws, or by custom, unless there is an express agreement or provision for compensation when the services are performed. "They cannot recover on implied contract for what the services were reasonably worth, for the law will not imply a promise on the part of the corporation to pay; and it can make no difference, in the application of tins rule, that the services were performed with the ex”
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.