Knights of Pythias v. Withers’s Empirical Analysis
177 U.S. 260 · 1900
Citation profile
15 federal appellate · 8 district · 113 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 149 later decisions (4 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2002 · most notably McMaster v. New York Life Insurance (1901), Hust v. Lines (1946)
15 federal appellate · 8 district · 113 state decisions — followed in 22 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 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Grace v. American Central Insurance · Rohrbach v. . Germania Fire Ins. Co. · Kausal v. Minnesota Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance · Kister v. Lebanon Mutual Ins.
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 149 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The position of the secretary must be determined by bis actual power and authority, and not by the name which the defendant chooses to give him. To invest him with the duties of an agent, and to deny his agency, is a mere juggling with words. Defendant cannot thus play fast and loose with its own subordinates. Upon its theory the policy holders had absolutely no protection.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““It is as if a creditor should instruct his debtor to pay his claim to a third person, and at the same time declare that such third person was not his agent to receive the money. It would scarcely be contended, however, that such payment would not be a good discharge of the debt, though the third person never accounted to the creditor ; * * * ”.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Sec. 6. The secretary of the section shall forward to the board of control the monthly payments and dues collected immediately after the 10th day of each and every month.””
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.