Doremus v. Root’s Empirical Analysis
1901
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 4 district · 136 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 146 later decisions — most recently October 2013 · most notably Bradley v. Rosenthal (1908), McGinnis v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. (1906)
4 federal appellate · 4 district · 136 state decisions — followed in 28 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 New Orleans Co v. Jopes · Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. v. Compania Transatlantica Espanola · King v. Chase · Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. James · Littleton v. Richardson
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 146 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The general rule undoubtedly is that where one has received an actionable injury at the hands of two or more persons acting in concert, or acting independently of each other, if their acts unite in causing a single injury, all of the wrong doers, however numerous, are severally liable to him for the full amount of damages occasioned by such injury, and he may enforce the liability in an action against them all jointly, or any one of them severally, or against any number of them less than the whole. While the wrong committed is the joint wrong of the several parties participating therein, it is also, in contemplation of law, the several wrong of each of the participants. Cooley, Torts (2d ed.), p. 153. On this principle, at common law a jury in actions ex delicto against several persons, contrary to the rule in actions ex contractu, were permitted to find against one or more of the defendants and in favor of the -others. The rule with regard to actions ex delicto remains the same under the code; and the practice now permits the jury in an action for tort against several defendants to return a verdict against so many of them as the proofs show are guilty of the wrong charged and in favor of the others. As it is the peculiar province of the jury to determine the guilt or innocence of the several defendants, a verdict finding in favor of some and against others, even though there may be no very apparent reason for the distinction made, is not for that reason alone so far abritra”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““It seems to be equally well settled, also, that silence of the verdict as to one of the defendants will not vitiate it as against the others. Such a verdict is treated as a finding in favor of the defendant not named on all of the issues, on which he is entitled to a judgment that plaintiff take nothing by his action. [Citing authorities.]””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Were the judgment against Root void, or were it before us for review on this appeal, or on a separate appeal by the present respondent, we would have no hesitancy in reversing both judgments and remanding the cause * * * on the whole of the issues.”’”
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.