Hunter v. Fairfax's Devisee’s Empirical Analysis
3 U.S. 305 · 1796
Citation profile
18 federal appellate · 7 district · 18 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 82 later decisions (6 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2022 · most notably Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society (1975), Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper (1980)
18 federal appellate · 7 district · 18 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.
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 82 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“In questions of this nature [motion for continuance because of the death of an attorney], we must be governed by a sound discretion; in order to prevent, on the one hand, an unnecessary procrastination, and, on the other hand to avoid an injurious precipitation of trial. . . . It is true that counsel might even at this time be employed, so as to admit, perhaps, of an argument before the court rises; but it is reasonable, that in a cause of such magnitude, the counsel should have an opportunity to investigate the principles, and to consider the authorities connected with it, out of term, and unencumbered by the pressure of the current business of the Court.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.