American Express Company v. United States No 405 National Express Company’s Empirical Analysis
212 U.S. 522 · 1909
Citation profile
27 federal appellate · 6 district · 14 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 83 later decisions (5 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 1965 · most notably Southern Pacific Terminal Company v. Interstate Commerce Commission (1911), United States v. American Ry Express Co Southeastern Express Co (1924)
27 federal appellate · 6 district · 14 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 Texas Pacific Railway Company v. Abilene Cotton Oil Company · Armour Packing Company v. United States · The Paquete Habana · New York New Haven Hartford Railroad Company v. Interstate Commerce Commission · Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Co. v. Voigt
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 83 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ * * * But the power of Congress over interstate transportation embraces all manner of carriage of that character—whether gratuitous or otherwise—and, in the absence of express exceptions, we think it was the intention of Congress to prevent a departure from the published rates and schedules in any manner whatsoever. If this be not so, a wide door is opened to favoritism in the carriage of property, in the instances mentioned, free of charge. * * * ””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“But we are to consider the language which Congress has used in passing a given law, and when the language is plain and explicit our only province is to give effect to the act as plainly expressed in its terms.”
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.