Nicol v. Ames’s Empirical Analysis
173 U.S. 509 · 1899
Citation profile
67 federal appellate · 37 district · 51 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 353 later decisions (82 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2026 · most notably Flint v. Stone Tracy Co. (1911), Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad (1916)
67 federal appellate · 37 district · 51 state decisions — followed in 17 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 Gulf Ry Co v. Ellis · Brown v. Maryland · Magoun v. Illinois Trust & Savings Bank · Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. · Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust 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 353 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The presumption, as has frequently been said, is in favor of the Validity of the act, and it is only when the question is free from any reasonable doubt that, the court should hold an act of the lawmaking power of .the nation to be in violation of that fundamental instrument upon which all the powers of the government rest. This is particularly true of a revenue act of Congress. The provisions of such an act should not be lightly .or unadvisedly set aside, although if they be plainly antagonistic to the Constitution it is the duty of the court to so declare.””
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A tax upon the privilege of selling property at the exchange and of thus using the facilities there offered in accomplishing the sale differs radically from a tax upon every sale made in any place. The latter tax is really and practically upon property. It takes no notice of any kind of' privilege or facility, and the fact of a salé is alone re garded. Although not created by government, this privilege or facility in effecting a sale at an exchange is so distinct and definite ■in its character, and constitutes so clear and plain a difference from a sale elsewhere, as to create a reasonable and substantial ground for classification and for taxation when similar sales at other places are untaxed.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Upon each sale, agreement of sale or agreement to sell any products of merchandise at any exchange or hoard of trade, or other similar place, either for present or future delivery, for each one hundred dollars in value of said sale or agreement of sale or agreement to sell, one cent, and for each additional one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of one hundred dollars, one cent.””
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.