Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company v. Wolf Brothers & Company’s Empirical Analysis
240 U.S. 251 · 1916
Citation profile
250 federal appellate · 68 district · 99 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 623 later decisions (62 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2024 · most notably Brown v. Allen (1953), Christianson v. Colt Industries Operating Corp. (1988)
250 federal appellate · 68 district · 99 state decisions — followed in 18 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
reviewedWolf Bros. & Co. v. Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. (from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Messenger v. Anderson · The Conqueror · McLean v. Fleming · Elizabeth v. Pavement Co. · Tilghman v. Proctor
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 623 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“for the purpose of administering complete relief,”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““We do not regard the word ‘The American Girl,’ adopted and employed by complainant in connection with shoes of its manufacture, as being a geographical or descriptive term- It does not signify that the shoes are manufactured in America, or intended to be sold or used in America, nor does it indicate the quality or characteristics of the shoes. _ Indeed, it does not, in its primary signification, indicate shoes at ail. It is a fanciful designation, arbitrarily selected by complainant’s predecessors to designate shoes of their manufacture. Wo are convinced that it was subject to appropriation for that purpose, and it abundantly appears to have been appropriated and used by comida inant and those under whom it claims.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“'before the court of appeals upon the second appeal,'”
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.