United States v. Bethlehem Steel Corp.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

84 federal appellate · 18 district · 123 state decisions

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 377 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is said that familiar principles would be outraged if Bethlehem were denied recovery on these contracts. But is there any principle which is more familiar or more firmly embedded in the history of Anglo-American law than the basic doctrine that the courts will not permit themselves to be used as instruments of inequity and injustice? Does any principle in our law have more universal application than the doctrine that courts will not enforce transactions in which the relative positions of the parties are such that one has unconscionably taken advantage of the necessities of the other?”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Ransburg v. Richards · Weaver v. American Oil Company

2. “Whether a number of promises constitute one contract or more than one is to be determined by inquiring `whether the parties assented to all the promises as a single whole, so that there would have been no bargain whatever, if any promise or set of promises were struck out.'”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 51 Wash. 2d 696 - Saletic v. Stamnes · 725 F. Supp. 712 - In Re Gulf Oil/Cities Service Tender Offer Lit.

3. “The word duress implies feebleness on one side, overpowering strength on the other.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Faillace v. Soderholm, No. Cv 95 0322549 (Oct. 27, 1997) · Hellenic Lines, Ltd. v. Louis Dreyfus Corp.