D. E. Foote & Co. v. Stanley’s Empirical Analysis
232 U.S. 494 · 1914
Citation profile
21 federal appellate · 21 district · 42 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 133 later decisions (17 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 1988 · most notably Sprout v. City of South Bend (1928), Sirota v. Solitron Devices, Inc. (1982)
21 federal appellate · 21 district · 42 state decisions — followed in 16 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 Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co. · Gibbons v. Ogden · Mugler v. State of Kansas State of Kansas Tufts · Brown v. Maryland · Robbins v. Taxing District of Shelby Co Tennessee
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 133 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Inspection necessarily involves expense, and the power to fix the fee, to cover that expense, is left primarily to the Legislature, which must exercise discretion in determining the amount to be charged, since it is impossible to tell exactly how much will be realized under the future operations of any law. Besides, receipts and disbursements may so vary from time to time that the surplus of one year may be needed to supply the deficiency of another. If, therefore, the fees exceed cost by a sum not unreasonable, no question can arise as to the validity of the tax so far as the amount of the charge is concerned. * * * Still, effect must be given to the provision of the Constitution, which, in unusual and emphatic terms, permits the state to collect only what is ‘absolutely necessary.’ If, therefore, it is shown that the fees are disproportionate to the service rendered, or that they include the cost of something beyond legitimate inspection to determine quality and condition, the tax must be declared void, because such costs by necessary operation obstruct the freedom of commerce among the states. McLean v. Denver & Rio Grande R. R. Co., 203 U. S. 38 ( 27 Sup. Ct. 1 , 51 L. Ed. 78 ]; Brimmer v. Rebman, 138 U. S. 78 , 83 [ 11 Sup. Ct. 213 , 35 L. Ed. 862 ]; Postal Telegraph-Cable Co. v. Taylor, 192 U. S. 64 [ 24 Sup. Ct. 208 , 48 L. Ed. 342 ]; Patapsco Co. v. North Carolina, 171 U. S. 345 , 354 [ 18 Sup. Ct. 862 , 43 L. Ed. 191 ]: Red C. Oil Co. v. North Carolina, 222 U. S. 38”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The Constitution prohibits a state from regulating interstate commerce, but at the same time authorizes the collection of the necessary expenses of its inspection laws with the result that interstate commerce is to that extent lawfully burdened. Inspection is intended to determine the weight, condition, quantity, and quality of merchandise to be sold within or beyond the state’s borders.””
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.