McMaster v. New York Life Insurance’s Empirical Analysis
183 U.S. 25 · 1901
Citation profile
97 federal appellate · 21 district · 140 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 277 later decisions (7 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2007 · most notably Stipcich v. Metropolitan Life Insurance (1928), Mutual Life Insurance v. Hurni Packing Co. (1923)
97 federal appellate · 21 district · 140 state decisions — followed in 29 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
reviewedMcMaster v. New York Life Ins. (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Thompson v. Phenix Ins Co of Brooklyn N Y · National Bank v. Insurance Co. · New York Life Insurance Company v. Statham et al. · Thompson v. Insurance 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 277 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The contracts were not assurances for a' single year, with the privilege of renewal from year to year on payment of stipulated premiums, but were entire contracts for life, subject to forfeiture by failure to perform the condition subsequent of payment as provided, or to conversion in 1913 at the election of the assured. Thompson v. Insurance Company, 104 U. S. 252 , 26 L. Ed. 765 ; New York Life Insurance Co. v. Statham, 93 U. S. 24 , 23 L. Ed. 789 .””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““We are dealing purely with the question of forfeiture, and the rule is that, if policies of insurance contain inconsistent provisions or are so framed as to be fairly open to construction, that view should be adopted, if possible, which will sustain, rather than forfeit, the contract.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“But what is the proper construction of these contracts in respect of the asserted forfeiture? The company, although retaining the premiums paid, and not offering to return them, contends that, if McMaster was not bound by an agreement that the subsequent premiums should be paid on December 12, then that the minds of the parties had not met because it had not contracted except on the basis of payments so to be made; but the question still remains whether the right of recovery in this case is dependent on such payment on the 12th day of December, 1894, or within thirty days thereafter.”
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.