United States v. Dotterweich’s Empirical Analysis
320 U.S. 277 · 1943
Citation profile
999 federal appellate · 124 district · 406 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,985 later decisions (95 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2024 · most notably Morissette v. United States (1952), Hamling v. United States (1974)
999 federal appellate · 124 district · 406 state decisions — followed in 44 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
reviewedUnited States v. Buffalo Pharmacal Co. (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 24 (§ 14 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914) · 18 U.S.C. § 550 · 21 U.S.C. § 331 (Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) · 21 U.S.C. § 333 (Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act)
Relies on Dunn v. United States · Nash v. United States · United States v. Balint · United States v. Wiltberger
Cited together with Morissette v. United States · United States v. Balint · Dunn v. United States · United States v. Freed · United States v. Park
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 1,985 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“In the interest of the larger good it puts the burden of acting at hazard upon a person otherwise innocent but standing in responsible relation to a public danger.”
58 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The purposes of this legislation thus touch phases of the lives and health of people which, in the circumstances of modern industrialism, are largely beyond self-protection. Regard for these purposes should infuse construction of the legislation if it is to be treated as a working instrument of government and not merely as a collection of English words.”
27 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Juries may indulge in precisely such motives or vagaries.”
16 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.