Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co.’s Empirical Analysis
285 U.S. 393 · 1932
Citation profile
113 federal appellate · 4 district · 159 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 569 later decisions (155 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2026 · most notably Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York (1978), Erie Co v. Tompkins (1938)
113 federal appellate · 4 district · 159 state decisions — followed in 33 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
reviewedthe decision below (from District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Olmstead v. United States · Munn v. Illinois · Joseph Lochner v. People of the State of New York · Slaughter-House Cases the Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. The Crescent City Live · Knowlton v. Moore
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 569 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“is usually the wise policy, because in most matters it is more important that the applicable rule of law be settled than it be settled right.”
37 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“to bring its opinions into agreement with experience and with facts newly ascertained.”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Vasquez v. Hillery · In re Dillon“correction through legislative action is practically impossible.”
3 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.