James Patton v. Maggie a Brady J D’s Empirical Analysis
184 U.S. 608 · 1902
Citation profile
101 federal appellate · 76 district · 89 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 454 later decisions (56 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2018 · most notably Flint v. Stone Tracy Co. (1911), Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad (1916)
101 federal appellate · 76 district · 89 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.
Relationships
Relies on Osborn v. President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States · Cohens v. Virginia · Knowlton v. Moore · Edye v. Robertson · State Railroad Tax Cases Taylor Collector et al. v. Secor et al.
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 454 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“it is no part of the function of a court to inquire into the reasonableness of the excise either as respects the amount or the property upon which it is imposed”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““It is insisted: ‘That Congress may excise an article as it pleases so that the excise does not amount to spoliation or confiscation. But that having excised it, it has excised it, and the power is exhausted. It cannot excise a seeond time.’ But why should the power of imposing an excise tax be exhausted when once exercised? It must be remembered that taxes are not debts in the sense that having once been established and paid all further liability of the individual to the government has ceased. They are, as said in Cooley on Taxation, p. 1: ‘The enforced proportional contribution of persons and property, levied by the authority of the state for the support of the government and for all public needs/ and so long as there exists public needs just so long exists the liability of the individual to contribute thereto. The obligation of the individual to the state is continuous and proportioned to the extent of the public wants. No human wisdom can always foresee what may be the exigencies of the future, or determine in advance exactly what the government must have in order ‘to provide for the common defense’ and ‘promote the general welfare.’ Emergencies may arise; wars may come unexpectedly; large demands upon the public may spring into being with little forewarning; and can it be, that having made provision for times of peace and quiet, the government is powerless to make a further call upon its citizens for the contributions necessary for unexpected exigencies. “That which was ”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Sec. 3. That there shall, in lieu of the tax now imposed by law, be levied and collected a tax of twelve cents per pound upon all tobacco and snuff, however prepared, manufactured, and sold, or removed for consumption or sale. * * * “And there shall also be assessed and collected, * * * upon all the articles enumerated in this section which were manufactured, imported, and removed from factory or customhouse before the passage of this act * * * and which articles were at the time of passage of this act held and intended for sale by any person, a tax equal to * * *.” (Emphasis supplied.)”
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.