Wheaton v. Sexton's Lessee’s Empirical Analysis
17 U.S. 503 · 1819
Citation profile
3 district · 22 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 30 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 1912 · most notably Marbury v. Brooks (1822), Splahn v. Gillespie (1874)
3 district · 22 state decisions — followed in 16 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 District of Columbia District Court)
Relationships
Relies on Astor v. Wells · Crane v. Hardy
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 30 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““At the trial two bills of exception were taken; the first of which brings up the question whether a sale by the marshal after the return day of the writ was legal. The co'urt charged that it was, provided the levy was made before the return day, and on this point the court can only express its surprise that any doubt could be entertained. The court below was unquestionably right in this instruction. ””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Mason v. Bennett
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.