Davis v. Hellwig’s Empirical Analysis
1956
Citation profile
5 district · 21 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 26 later decisions — most recently June 2000 · most notably McAndrew v. Mularchuk (1960), State v. Williams (1959)
5 district · 21 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 Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co. · Hartpence v. Grouleff · Brown v. State · Edgin v. Talley · Wiley v. State
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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Courts have universally regarded loaded firearms as dangerous instruments and have ascribed an elevated degree of reasonable care and caution to be exercised in their use.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A street is not a sanctuary for a robber, and the officers had a right to exercise their prerogative of arresting the felon wherever they might find him, whether in the street or in some secluded spot. The mere act of their shooting at him was not unlawful or negligent per se, because as to the arresting officers it was authorized by statute. Of course, it was their duty to act with reasonable prudence to avoid the injury of innocent persons, and the care must be commensurate with the danger involved. It goes without saying that a greater quantum of caution should be observed in firing upon him with pistols than if they were grappling him with their hands. Whether they were negligent under all the circumstances of the case, as a result of which the injury was inflicted, was a question for the jury to determine according to the preponderance of the evidence upon a consideration of the whole case.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Dyson v. Schmidt“There is no evidence in the instant case to show what caused the bullet to be deflected to the north sidewalk where the infant plaintiff was walking. But even though the defendant, in Mr. Justice Cardozo's words, is held to a `duty of prevision not far from that of an insurer,' it does not follow that the court is to decide the issue of liability as a question of law. * * *”
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.