Hartford Fire Insurance Company v. Chicago Milwaukee St Paul Railway Company’s Empirical Analysis
175 U.S. 91 · 1899
Citation profile
98 federal appellate · 27 district · 120 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 312 later decisions (12 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2017 · most notably Black & White Taxicab & Transfer Co. v. Brown & Yellow Taxicab & Transfer Co. (1928), Blackstone v. Miller (1903)
98 federal appellate · 27 district · 120 state decisions — followed in 28 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 Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Burgess v. Seligman · Liverpool & Great Western Steam Co. v. Phenix Insurance · Bank of Augusta v. Earle · Central Transportation Co. v. Pullman's Palace Car Co. · Atchison Co v. Matthews
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 312 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Questions of public policy, as affecting the liability for acts done, or upon contracts made and to be performed, within one of the states of the Union — when not controlled by the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States, or by the principles of the commercial or mercantile law, or of general jurisprudence, of national or universal application — are governed by the law of the state as expressed in its own Constitution and statutes or declared by its highest court.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Generally speaking, tlie right of a railroad corporation to build its road and run its locomotive engines and cars thereon, within any state, is derived from the legislature of the state; and it is within the undisputed powers of that legislature to prescribe the precautions that the corporation shall take to guard against injuries to the property of others by the running of its trains, as well as the measure of its liability in case such injuries happen. Among the most familiar instances of the exercise of this power are statutes requiring a railroad corporation to erect fences between its road and adjoining lands, and subjecting it to either single or double damages for any injury to cattle or other animals caused by its neglect so to do, * * * and statutes making a railroad corporation liable for damages to property of others from fire set by sparks from its locomotive engines, either independently of negligence on its part or in ease of such negligence only.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““A railroad corporation holds its station grounds, railroad tracks and right of way for the public use for which it is incorporated, yet as its private property, and to be occupied by itself or by others, in the maimer whieh it may consider best fitted to promote, or not to interfere with, the public use. It may, in its discretion, permit them to be occupied by others with structures convenient for the receiving and delivering of freight upon its railroad, so long as a free and safe passage is left for the carriage of freight and passengers. * * * And the public had no interest in the question which of the parties to the contract should be ultimately responsible for such damages to property placed on the land of the corporation by its consent only.””
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.