Davis v. Donovan’s Empirical Analysis
265 U.S. 257 · 1924
Citation profile
21 federal appellate · 6 district · 21 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 58 later decisions (6 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 1993 · most notably Davis v. Alexander (1925), Davis v. Newton Coal Co. (1925)
21 federal appellate · 6 district · 21 state decisions
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 Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Missouri Pac Co v. Ault · E. I. Dupont De Nemours & Co. v. Davis · The Louisiana · Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. North Dakota ex rel. Langer · Dahn v. Davis
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 58 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““During the year 1919 the United States were in possession and complete control by the Director General of the important railroad systems throughout the country. Northern Pacific Ry. Co. vs. North Dakota, 250 U. S. 135 . As the representative of the United States he was subject to be sued for the purposes, to the extent and under the conditions prescribed by statute and orders issued thereunder — and not otherwise. DuPont De Nemours & Co. vs. Davis, 264 U. S. 456 .””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Under Federal Control Act, § 10 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 3115 %j), Director General of Railroads, when sued for negligence of his servants operating particular railroad, could not be held liable for acts and omissions of those of another railroad system, since, as Director General of certain railroad, no liability could be adjudged against him, except such as might have been adjudged against such railroad before federal control.””
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.