Appleby v. City of New York’s Empirical Analysis
271 U.S. 364 · 1926
Citation profile
48 federal appellate · 4 district · 60 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 243 later decisions (69 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2024 · most notably Volt Information Sciences Inc v. Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University (1989), Idaho v. Coeur Tribe of Idaho (1997)
48 federal appellate · 4 district · 60 state decisions — followed in 15 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 Huntington v. Attrill · Shively v. Bowlby · Philadelphia Co. v. Stimson · City of Walla Walla v. Walla Walla Water Co · Hardin v. Jordan
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 243 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The question whether a contract was made is a federal question for purposes of Contract Clause analysis, and 'whether it turns on issues of general or purely local law, we can not surrender the duty to exercise our own judgment.'”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The questions we have here to determine are, first, was there a contract, second, what was its proper construction and effect, and, third, was its obligation impaired by subsequent legislation as enforced by the state court? These questions we must answer independently of the conclusion of [the state] court. Of course we should give all proper weight to its judgment, but we can not perform our duty to enforce the guaranty of the Federal Constitution as to the inviolability of contracts by state legislative action unless we give the questions independent consideration.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““ * * * But there can be no doubt of the right of Parliament in England, or the Legislature of this state, to make such grants, when they do not interfere with the vested rights of particular individuals. * * * “Hence the Legislature as the representatives of the public may restrict and regulate the exercise of those rights in such manner as may be deemed most beneficial to the public at large: Provided they do not interfere with vested rights which have been granted to individuals.””
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.