Ferraria v. Vasconcellos’s Empirical Analysis
1863
Citation profile
33 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 34 later decisions — most recently November 2020 · most notably Smith v. Pedigo (1893), Wheelock v. First Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles (1897)
33 state decisions — followed in 15 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.
Relationships
Relies on Ferraria v. Vasconcelles · Vasconcellos v. Ferraria
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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““That, where a church is erected for the use of a, particular denomination or religious persuasion, a majority of the members cannot abandon the tenets and doctrines of the denomination, and retain the right to the use of the property; but such secessionists forfeit all right to the property, even if but a single member adheres to the original faith and doctrine of the church. This rule is founded in reason and justice. ⅝ * * Those who adhere to the original tenets and doctrines for the promulgation of which a church has been erected are the sole beneficiaries designed by the donors and those who depart from and abandon those tenets and doctrines cease to be beneficiaries, and forfeit all claim to the title and use of such property.””
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.