Norris v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis
1947
Citation profile
43 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 43 later decisions — most recently August 2013 · most notably City of Bowie v. MIE, Properties, Inc. (2007), 92 Md. App. 137 - Markey v. Wolf (1992)
43 state decisions
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 McKenrick v. Savings Bank · McClure v. . Leaycraft · Matthews v. Kernewood, Inc. · Scholtes v. McColgan · Baltimore Butchers Abattoir & Live Stock Co. v. Union Rendering 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 43 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ ‘In the recent case of Norris v. Williams, 189 Md. 73, 76 , 54 A.2d 331, 332 , Judge Delaplaine speaking for the Court, said: “ ‘ “However, restrictions upon the use of land are in derogation of the natural right which an owner possesses to use and enjoy his property, and are repugnant to trade and commerce. Consequently, restrictive covenants are construed strictly against their establishment and effect, and liberally in support of the unrestricted use of the land....” ‘There must be borne in mind the often repeated doctrine that doubts should be resolved in favor of the unrestricted use of property.’ ””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"* * * it will be implied that some reasonable limitation adapted to the nature of the case was intended, and the restriction will be construed as extending for no longer period of time than the nature of the circumstances and the purposes of the imposition indicate as reasonable for the duration of its enforcement without undue prejudice to the property rights acquired by the grantee and his successors in title." Norris v. Williams, 189 Md. 73 , 54 A.2d 331, 333 , 4 A.L.R.2d 1106 .”
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.