McCormick v. Market Bank’s Empirical Analysis
165 U.S. 538 · 1897
Citation profile
31 federal appellate · 14 district · 58 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 123 later decisions — most recently June 1973 · most notably Texas Pac Ry Co v. Pottorff (1934), First Nat Bank of Concord v. Hawkins (1899)
31 federal appellate · 14 district · 58 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.
Relationships
Relies on Central Transportation Co. v. Pullman's Palace Car Co. · Neal v. Clark · National Bank v. Matthews · Thomas v. Railroad Co. · Casey v. Galli
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 123 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“¡ “The clear result of these decisions may be summed.up thus; The charter .of a corporation, read ip the light of any general laws which are applicable, ,is the measure of its' powers, and the enumeration of those powers implies the exclusion of all others not fairly incidental. All contracts made, by á corporation beyond the scope of.those powers are unlawful and void, and no ■.action can be maintained upbn them in the courts, and this upon three distinct ■grounds; The obligation of every one contracting with a corporation to. take notice of the legal limits of its powers; the interest of the stockholder not to he subjected to risks which they have never undertaken; and, above all, the interest of the public that the corporation shall not transcend the powers conferred upon it hy law. A corporation cannot, without the assent of the Legislature, transfer its franchise to another corporation, and abnegate the performance of the duties to the public imposed upon it hy its charter as the consideration for the grant of its franchise. Neither the grant of a franchise to transport passengers nor a general authority to sell and dispose of property empowers the grantee, while it continues to exist as a corporation, to sell or to lease its entire property and franchise to another corporation. These principles apply equally to companies incorporated hy special charter from the. Legislature and to those formed hy articles of association under the general laws.” Pages 48, 49, 139 U. S., ”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““. . . The lease is void, cannot be made good by estoppel, and will not support an action to recover anything beyond the value of what the defendant has actually received and enjoyed.””
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.