Hibbs v. . Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 federal appellate · 2 district · 38 state decisions

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 69 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A joint-stock company, whatever else may be said about it, is certainly for most, if not all, practical purposes a legal entity, capable in law of acting and assuming legal obligations quite independent of the shareholders. The idea that these companies occupy some undefined and undefinable ground midway between a partnership and a corporation has practically faded away, and cannot be applied to the question with which we are now concerned. * * * it iSj i think, very difficult to avoid the conclusion that these companies at this day and in this state possess substantially and practically all the attributes of corporations, and still more difficult to assign any sound reason for any distinction to be made between the negotiable character of the bonds of each, when made payable to bearer. These companies are for all practical purposes quasi corporations, and, it seems to me, are clearly such, so far as concerns the negotiable character of its commercial paper.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. American Express Co.