Commissioner v. Wemyss’s Empirical Analysis
324 U.S. 303 · 1945
Citation profile
182 federal appellate · 9 district · 17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 436 later decisions (20 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2018 · most notably Bingham's Trust v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1945), United States v. Davis (1962)
182 federal appellate · 9 district · 17 state decisions
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
reviewedWemyss v. Commissioner (from Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Heininger · Dobson v. Commissioner · Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Scottish American Inv Co · Smith v. Shaughnessy
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 436 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Donative intent on the part of the transferor is not an essential element in the application of the gift tax to the transfer. The application of the tax is based on the objective facts of the transfer and the circumstances under which it is made, rather than on the subjective motives of the donor . . . . The gift tax is not applicable to a transfer for a full and adequate consideration in money or money’s worth, or to ordinary business transactions [defined in Treas.Reg. § 25.-2512-8 as transactions which are bona fide, at arm’s length, and free from any donative intent].”
24 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Where property is transferred for less than an adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth, then the amount by which the value of the property exceeded the value of the consideration shall be deemed a gift.”
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The section taxing as gifts transfers that are not made for 'adequate and full (money) consideration' aims to reach those transfers which are withdrawn from the donor's estate.”
4 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.