Wilson v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
221 U.S. 361 · 1911
Citation profile
795 federal appellate · 168 district · 360 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,138 later decisions (158 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2024 · most notably Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States (1920), Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)
795 federal appellate · 168 district · 360 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 Boyd v. United States · Edwin Hale v. William Henkel · Counselman v. Hitchcock · Logan v. United States
Cited together with Edwin Hale v. William Henkel · United States v. White · Boyd v. United States · Bellis v. United States · Shapiro v. United States
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 2,138 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“records required by law to be kept in order that there may be suitable information of transactions which are the appropriate subjects of governmental regulation and the enforcement of restrictions validly established.”
38 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A command to the corporation is in effect a command to those who are officially responsible for the conduct of its affairs. If they, apprised of the writ directed to the corporation, prevent compliance or fail to take appropriate action within their power for the performance of the corporate duty, they, no less than the corporation itself, are guilty of disobedience, and may be punished for contempt.”
21 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““If the corporation were guilty of misconduct, he could not withhold its books to save it; and if he were implicated in the violations of law, he could not withhold the books to protect himself. from the effect of their disclosures.””
9 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.