Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. McGuire’s Empirical Analysis
219 U.S. 549 · 1911
Citation profile
88 federal appellate · 51 district · 291 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 625 later decisions (65 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Meyer v. State of Nebraska (1923), Pierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Same (1925)
88 federal appellate · 51 district · 291 state decisions — followed in 39 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 Yick Wo v. Hopkins · Mugler v. State of Kansas State of Kansas Tufts · Munn v. Illinois · Joseph Lochner v. People of the State of New York · Plessy v. Ferguson
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 625 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ ‘But it was recognized in the cases cited, as in many others, that freedom of contract is a qualified, and not an absolute, right. There is no absolute freedom to do as one wills or to contract as one chooses. The guaranty of liberty does not withdraw from legislative supervision that wide department of activity which consists of the making of contracts, or deny to government the power to provide restrictive safeguards. Liberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations and prohibitions imposed in the interests of the community.’ Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. McGuire, 219 U.S. 549 , 565, 31 S.Ct. 259 , 262, 55 L.Ed. 328 .””
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Whether the enactment is wise or unwise, whether it is based on sound economic theory, whether it is the best means to achieve the desired result, whether, in short, the legislative discretion within its prescribed limits should be exercised in a particular manner, are matters for the judgment of the legislature, and the earnest conflict of serious opinion does not suffice to bring them within the range of judicial cognizance.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Tbe acceptance of benefits Is, of course, an act done after tbe injury, but the legal consequences sought to be attached to that act are derived from the provision in the contract of membership. The stipulation which the statute nullifies is one made in advance of the injury, that the subsequent acceptance of benefits shall constitute full satisfaction of the claim for damages. It is in this respect that the question arises as to the restriction of the liberty of contract. * * * There is no absolute freedom to do as one wills or to contract as one chooses. The guaranty of liberty does not withdraw from .legislative supervision that wide department of activity, which consists of the making of contracts, or deny to the government the power to provide restrictive safeguards. Liberty implies the absence of arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations, and prohibitions, imposed in the interests of the community.””
3 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.