Contributors to Pennsylvania Hospital v. City of Philadelphia’s Empirical Analysis
245 U.S. 20 · 1917
Citation profile
29 federal appellate · 21 district · 65 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 162 later decisions (35 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon (1922), Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell (1934)
29 federal appellate · 21 district · 65 state decisions — followed in 13 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 Arthur Manigault v. Alfred a Springs · Beer Company v. Massachusetts · Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge · New Orleans Gas Co. v. Louisiana Light Co. · Stone v. Mississippi
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 162 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]here can be now, in view of the many decisions of this court on the subject, no room for challenging the general proposition that the states cannot by virtue of the contract clause be held to have divested themselves by contract of the right to exert their governmental authority in matters which from them very nature so concern that authority that to restrain its exercise by contract would be a renunciation of power to legislate for the preservation of society or to secure the performance of essential governmental duties. ... [T]he right of government to exercise its power of eminent domain upon just compensation for a public purpose comes within this general doctrine.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The power of eminent domain is `so inherently governmental in character and so essential for the public welfare' as not to be susceptible of abridgment by agreement.”
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.