Pierce v. Somerset Ry’s Empirical Analysis
171 U.S. 641 · 1898
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 9 district · 29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 95 later decisions (18 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2025 · most notably Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority (1936), Buck v. Kuykendall (1925)
12 federal appellate · 9 district · 29 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.
Relationships
Relies on Eustis v. Bolles · Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy · John Clay v. Abraham Smith · Rutland Railroad v. Central Vermont Railroad
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 95 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A person may by Ms acts or omission to act waive a right which he might otherwise; have under the Constitution of the United States as well as under a statute.””
2 later decisions 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.