Eastern Building & Loan Ass'n v. Williamson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

34 federal appellate · 5 district · 28 state decisions

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 74 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “' “It is now well settled that a corporation cannot avail itself of the defense of ultra vires when the contract has been, in good faith, fully performed by the other party, and the corporation has had the benefit of the performance and of the contract. As has been said, corporations, like natural persons, have power and capacity to do wrong. They may, in their contracts and dealings, break over the restraints imposed upon them by their charters; and when they do so their exemption * * * cannot be claimed on the mere ground that they have no attributes nor facilities which render it possible for them thus to act. While they have no right to violate their charters, yet they have capacity to do so, and'are bound by their acts where a repudiation of them would result in manifest wrong to innocent parties, and especially where the offender alleges its own wrong to avoid a just responsibility. It may be that, while a contract remains unexecuted upon both sides, a corporation is not estopped to say in its defense that it had not the power to make the contract sought to be enforced, yet, when it becomes executed by the other party, it is estopped from asserting its own wrong and cannot be excused from payment upon the plea that the contract was beyond its power.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Granite Brick Co. v. Titus · Lewis v. Fifth-Third National Bank of Cincinnati

2. ““While statutes and decisions of other states are facts to be proved, yet when proved their construction and meaning are for the consideration and judgment of the courts in which they have been proved. Nor is the rule changed by the testimony given in the deposition of defendant's counsel, for, as he states, his opinion is based on the statutes, the articles of incorporation, and the decisions admitted in evidence, together with similar decisions of other states under like statutes, articles of incorporation, and by-laws. No witness can conclude a court by his opinion of the construction and meaning of statutes and decisions already in evidence. Laing v. Rigney, 160 U.S. 531 , 16 S.Ct. 366 , 40 L.Ed. 525 . The duty of the court to construe and decide remains the same.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Liechti v. Roche

3. ““We deem it unnecessary to add any observations of our own to these satisfactory declarations of the law of New York.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lewis v. Fifth-Third National Bank of Cincinnati