Lau Ow Bew v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
144 U.S. 47 · 1892
Citation profile
169 federal appellate · 51 district · 59 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 482 later decisions (77 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2023 · most notably Sorrells v. United States (1932), United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Ass'n (1897)
169 federal appellate · 51 district · 59 state decisions — followed in 25 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Rector Etc of Holy Trinity Church v. United States · Chae Chan Ping v. United States · United States v. Kirby · Henderson v. Mayor of the City of New York Commissioners of Immigration v. North German Lloyd
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 482 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Nothing is better settled than that statutes should receive a sensible construction, such as will effectuate the legislative intention, and, if possible, so as to avoid an unjust or an absurd conclusion.””
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““ ‘All laws should receive a sensible construction. General terms should be so limited in their application as not to .lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence. It will always, therefore, be presumed that the legislature intended exceptions to its language, which would avoid results of this character. The reason of the law in such cases should prevail over its letter.’ ””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the words ‘unless otherwise provided bylaw”
2 later decisions 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.