Puget Sound Stevedoring Co v. Tax Commission of State of Washington’s Empirical Analysis
302 U.S. 90 · 1937
Citation profile
37 federal appellate · 12 district · 120 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 252 later decisions (53 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2021 · most notably Payne v. Tennessee (1991), Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1943)
37 federal appellate · 12 district · 120 state decisions — followed in 18 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. A case is still cited after being overruled — to note the reversal, distinguish it, or in dissent. 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.
Relationships
Relies on Atlantic Transport Company of West Virginia v. Frank Imbrovek · International Stevedoring Co. v. Haverty · Galveston Harrisburg San Antonio Railway Company v. State of Texas · Leloup v. Port of Mobile · Williams v. Fears
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 252 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Transportation of a cargo by water is impossible or futile unless the thing to be transported is put aboard the ship and taken off at destination. A stevedore who in person or by servants does work so indispensable is as much an agency of commerce as shipowner or master. Formerly the work was done by the ship’s crew; but, owing to the exigencies of increasing commerce and the demand for 'rapidity and special skill, it has become a specialized service -devolving upon a class as clearly identified with maritime affairs as are the mariners.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The business of loading and unloading being interstate or foreign commerce, the state of Washington is not at liberty to tax the privilege of doing it by exacting in return therefor a percentage of the gross receipts. Decisions to that effect are many and controlling. [Citing authorities].””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“supplying longshoremen to shipowners or masters without directing or controlling the work of loading or unloading, [was] not interstate or foreign commerce, but rather a local business, and subject, like such business generally, to taxation by the state.”
2 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.