California Oregon Power Co. v. Beaver Portland Cement Co.’s Empirical Analysis
295 U.S. 142 · 1935
Citation profile
47 federal appellate · 17 district · 111 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 253 later decisions (36 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2023 · most notably Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States (1976), Nevada v. United States (1983)
47 federal appellate · 17 district · 111 state decisions — followed in 14 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
reviewedCalifornia-Oregon Power Co. v. Beaver Portland Cement Co. (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on State of Kansas v. State of Colorado · United States v. Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co. · Clark v. Nash · Pacific Live Stock Co. v. Lewis
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 253 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The effect of these acts is not limited to rights acquired before 1866. They reach into the future as well, and approve and confirm the policy of appropriation for a beneficial use, as recognized by local rules and customs, and the legislation and judicial decisions of the arid-land states, as the test and measure of private rights in and to the nonnavigable waters on the public domain.”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[Fallowing the act of 1877, if not before, all nonnavigable waters then a part of the public domain became publici juris, subject to the plenary control of the designated states, including those since created out of the territories named, with the right in each to determine for itself to what extent the rule of appropriation or the common-law rule in respect of riparian rights should obtain.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“As the owner of the public domain, the government possessed the power to dispose of land and water thereon together, or to dispose of them separately. Howell v. Johnson, C.C., 89 F. 556, 558. The fair construction of [the Desert Land Act of 1877] is that Congress intended to establish the rule that for the future the land should be patented separately; and that all non-navigable waters thereon should be reserved for the use of the public under the laws of the states and territories named. The words that the water of all sources of water supply upon the public lands and not navigable `shall remain and be held free for the appropriation and use of the public' are not susceptible of any other construction * * *.”
7 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.