Herring v. Commissioner’s Empirical Analysis
293 U.S. 322 · 1934
Citation profile
85 federal appellate · 6 district · 7 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 168 later decisions (8 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 1989 · most notably Commissioner v. Engle (1984), Douglas v. Commissioner (1944)
85 federal appellate · 6 district · 7 state decisions
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
reviewedHerring v. Commissioner (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Burnet v. Harmel · Palmer v. Bender · Bankers Pocahontas Coal Co. v. Burnet · Murphy Oil Co. v. Burnet · United States v. Dakota-Montana Oil Co.
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 168 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“As to income tax liability in the year of termination of the lease, on account of bonus paid at the execution of the lease, if no mineral has then been extracted, we express no opinion.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“payment in advance for oil and gas to be extracted,”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A bonus is not proceeds from the sale of property, but payment in ,advance for oil and gas to be extracted, and is therefore taxable income. As such it is a part of the ‘gross income from the property’ as the phrase is used in Section 204(c) (2) to designate the base for the application of the percentage deduction.” 293 U.S. at page 324 , 55 S.Ct. at page 180 . “It has never been held here that the existence of a well conditioned the right to depletion.” 293 U.S. at pages 325-326, 55 S.Ct. at page 180 . “To condition the allowance on actual production, however small, or the imminent probability of production, and to deal in refinements as to the degree of probability of future production is in many cases to deny any deduction whether the taxpayer elects to compute it under 204(c) (2), (flat percentage of gross income from the property) and permit it where he elects to compute it under 204(e) (on the basis of cost). But the nature and the purpose of the allowance is the same in both cases, and we find neither statutory authority nor logical justification for withholding it in the one and granting it in the other; much less for making the decision turn upon the circumstance that no production is obtained within the year in which the bonus is paid.” 293 U.S. at pages 327-328, 55 S.Ct. at page 181 .”
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.