Archer v. Greenville Sand & Gravel Co.’s Empirical Analysis
233 U.S. 60 · 1914
Citation profile
25 federal appellate · 13 district · 27 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 84 later decisions (4 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2006 · most notably Marshall v. People of State of New York (1920), Culley v. Pearl River Industrial Commission (1959)
25 federal appellate · 13 district · 27 state decisions — followed in 10 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Shively v. Bowlby · United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co. · Fred Bardes v. First National Bank of Hawarden Iowa · Hardin v. Jordan · The Propeller Genesee Chief Pierce Kelsey Cheney Hunter Swan Clark Strong v. Fitzhugh Littlejohn Peck
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 84 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“In Mississippi the common law prevails as to riparian rights, and he who owns the bank owns to the middle of a navigable river subject to the easement of navigation”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“bill show[ed] a continuing trespass of such a nature and of such character of injury that remedies at law by actions for damages would be inadequate”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“There is therefore no inconsistency, but on the contrary, as before suggested, perfect harmony between the jus privatum [private law; the law regulating the rights of individuals] of riparian ownership in public fresh-water streams, to the middle of the river, and the jus publicum [public law; law relating to the constitution and functions of government] of free navigation thereof. The soil is granted to the riparian proprietor, subject to this public easement. * * * * * * This general doctrine is as old as the Year-books, that, prima facie, every proprietor on each bank of a river is entitled to the land covered with water to the middle of the stream. In virtue of this ownership, he has the right to the use of the water flowing over it in its natural current without diminution or obstruction. But, strictly speaking, he has no property in the water itself, but a simple use of it while it passes along. [ Emphasis original ].”
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.