United States v. Dakota-Montana Oil Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

187 federal appellate · 6 district · 13 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 368 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Art. 201. Depletion of mines, oil and gas wells; depreciation of improvements. _ * * * “(c) A 'mineral property’ is the mineral deposit, the development and plant necessary for its extraction, and so much of the surface only as is reasonably expected to be underlaid with the mineral. The value of a mineral property is the combined value of its component parts. “(d) A 'mineral deposit’ refers to minerals only, such as the ores only in the case of a mine, to the oil only in the case of an oil well, *' * * “(e) ‘Minerals’ include ores of the metals, coal, oil, gas, and * * * “(h) ‘Depletion allowance in case of discovery’: The deduction for depletion in case of the discovery of a mine shall not exceed 50 per cent of the net income, computed without allowance for depletion, from the property upon which the discovery is made, except that in no case shall the depletion allowance be less than it would be if computed without reference to discovery value. The phrase ‘net income of the taxpayer (computed without allowance for depletion)’ means the gross income from the sale of all mineral products from the mining property and any other income incidental to the operation of the property for the production of the mineral products, less the deductions in respect to the property upon which the discovery is made, including operating expenses, depreciation, taxes, losses sustained, etc., but excluding any allowance for depletion.” (Italics our own.)”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Helvering v. Twin Bell Oil Syndicate · Ambassador Petroleum Co. v. Commissioner

2. ““Thus the acts of 1918, 1921, and 1924 were consistently construed by the regulations to permit a depletion, but not a depreciation allowance for the costs of development work and drilling, which were treated for this purpose either as a part of the cost or an addition to the discovery value of the oil in the ground. The administrative construction must be deemed to have received legislative approval by the re-enactment of the statutory provision, without material change. [Cases cited.]””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ambassador Petroleum Co. v. Commissioner · Lyell v. Commissioner

3. ““(8) In the cases of mines, oil and gas wells, other natural deposits, and timber, a reasonable allowance for depiction and for depreciation of improvements, according to the peculiar conditions in each case; such reasonable allowance in all cases to be made under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Commissioner with the approval of the Secretary.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ambassador Petroleum Co. v. Commissioner · Vinton Petroleum Co. v. Commissioner