Wood v. Lovett’s Empirical Analysis
313 U.S. 362 · 1941
Citation profile
39 federal appellate · 59 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 143 later decisions (13 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2015 · most notably Weaver v. Graham (1981), United States Trust Company of New York v. New Jersey (1977)
39 federal appellate · 59 state decisions — followed in 12 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 Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell · Fletcher v. Peck · Sturges v. Crowninshield · Ogden v. Saunders · Stephenson v. Binford
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 143 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The federal and state courts have held, with practical unanimity, that any substantial alteration by subsequent legislation of the rights of a purchaser at tax sale, accruing to him under laws in force at the time of his purchase, is void as impairing the obligation of contract.” 313 U.S. at 369 , 61 S.Ct. at 986 , 85 L.Ed. at 1407 .”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The Blaisdell decision represented a realistic appreciation of the fact that ours is an evolving society and that the general words of the contract clause were not intended to reduce the legislative branch of government to helpless impotency.” Wood v. Lovett, 313 U.S. 362, 383 , 61 S. Ct. 983, 993 , 85 L. Ed. 1404 .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.