Morris v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
174 U.S. 196 · 1899
Citation profile
31 federal appellate · 32 district · 26 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 131 later decisions (12 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2014 · most notably Scranton v. Wheeler (1900), United States Greathouse v. Dern (1933)
31 federal appellate · 32 district · 26 state decisions — followed in 12 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 Shively v. Bowlby · Monongahela Navigation Co. v. United States · Shoemaker v. United States · St.louis Smelting and Refining Company v. Kemp. · Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois
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 131 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“That for the purpose of establishing and making clear the title of the United States it shall be the duty of the Attorney General of the United States to institute as soon as may be, or whenever in his judgment it is deemed proper, a suit or suits in the (District Court for the District of Columbia) against all persons and corporations, or others, who may have, or pretend to have, any right, title, claim, or interest adverse to the complete title of the United States in and to any part or parcel of the land or water in the District of Columbia in, under, and adjacent to the Potomac River, the Anacostia River or Eastern Branch, and Rock Creek, including the shores and submerged or partly submerged land, as well as the beds of said waterways, and also the upland immediately adjacent thereto, including made lands, flats, and marsh lands.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“That nothing herein contained shall be so construed to vest in the United States any right of property in the soil or to affect the rights of individuals therein, otherwise than the same shall or may be transferred by such individuals to the United States.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“the grant to Lord Baltimore, in unmistakable terms, included the Potomac River.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Virginia v. Maryland
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.