Detroit United Railway v. People of the State of Michigan Detroit United Railway’s Empirical Analysis
242 U.S. 238 · 1916
Citation profile
11 federal appellate · 8 district · 23 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 79 later decisions (17 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2002 · most notably Allied Structural Steel Company v. Spannaus (1978), Georgia Ry Power Co v. Town of Decatur (1923)
11 federal appellate · 8 district · 23 state decisions — followed in 11 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 Frank v. Mangum · McCullough v. Commonwealth of Virginia · Detroit v. Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Co. · New Orleans Water-Works Co v. Louisiana Sugar Refining Co · Central Land Co of West Virginia v. Laidley
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 79 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“law impairing the obligation of contracts”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“where this court is called upon ... to decide whether state legislation impairs the obligation of a contract, we are required to determine ... these questions: (1) Was there a contract? (2) If so, what obligation arose from it? and (3) Has that obligation been impaired by subsequent legislation?”
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.