Virginian Ry Co v. System Federation No 40’s Empirical Analysis
300 U.S. 515 · 1937
Citation profile
1,196 federal appellate · 293 district · 155 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,662 later decisions (270 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2024 · most notably City of Los Angeles v. Lyons (1983), Textile Workers v. Lincoln Mills of Ala. (1957)
1,196 federal appellate · 293 district · 155 state decisions — followed in 29 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
reviewedVirginian Ry. Co. v. System Federation No. 40 (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. · Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan · Mondou v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad · Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford
Cited together with Elgin Ry Co v. Burley · Texas Co v. Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks · Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Chicago River & Indiana Railroad · Switchmen's Union of North America v. National Mediation Board · Steele v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad
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 2,662 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Courts of equity may, and frequently do, go much farther both to give and withhold relief in furtherance of the public interest than they are accustomed to go when only private interests are involved.”
56 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the prompt and orderly settlement of all disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules, or Working conditions.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“all disputes, whether arising out of the application of such (collective bargaining) agreements or otherwise . . . .”
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.