Brewster v. Gage’s Empirical Analysis
280 U.S. 327 · 1930
Citation profile
524 federal appellate · 101 district · 51 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,178 later decisions (106 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2018 · most notably Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States (1933), Sanford's Estate v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1939)
524 federal appellate · 101 district · 51 state decisions — followed in 17 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedBrewster v. Gage (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Maryland Casualty Co. v. United States · National Lead Co. v. United States · United States v. Cerecedo Hermanos y Compañia · United States v. Magnolia Petroleum Co.
Cited together with Fawcus Mach Co v. United States · Logan v. Davis · United States v. Dakota-Montana Oil Co. · Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States · Maryland Casualty Co. v. United States
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 1,178 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Upon the death of the owner, title to his real estate passes to his heirs or devisees. A different rule applies to personal property. Title to it does not vest at once in heirs or legatees. But immediately upon the death of the owner there vests in each of them the right to his distributive share of so much as shall remain after proper administration and the right to have it delivered upon entry of the decree of distribution. Upon acceptance of the trust there vests in the administrators or executors, as of the date of the death, title to all personal property belonging to the estate; it is taken, not for themselves, but in the right of others for the proper administration of the estate and for distribution of the residue” .... The synthesis [is] that, though title vests in the executor, this is a vesting of legal title analogous to that in the case of a trustee. In fact, the executor is a trustee, first, for creditors of the estate and, second, for legatees under the will of his testator. He holds legal title, but subject only to the composite effect of the estate’s obligations, the legatees acquired the equitable title upon their testator’s death.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The deliberate selection of language so differing from that used in earlier Acts indicates that a change of law was intended.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[i]t is the settled rule that the practical interpretation of an ambiguous or doubtful statute that has been acted upon by officials charged with its administration will not be disturbed except for weighty reasons.”
6 later decisions 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.