Securities & Exchange Commission v. W. J. Howey Co.’s Empirical Analysis
328 U.S. 293 · 1946
Citation profile
1,003 federal appellate · 404 district · 700 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,691 later decisions (40 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2025 · most notably United Housing Foundation, Inc. v. Forman (1975), Tcherepnin v. Knight (1967)
1,003 federal appellate · 404 district · 700 state decisions — followed in 47 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
reviewedSecurities & Exchange Commission v. W. J. Howey Co. (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Securities & Exchange Commission v. C. M. Joiner Leasing Corp. · Allen v. Trust Co. · State v. Gopher Tire & Rubber Co. · Securities & Exchange Commission v. Universal Service Ass'n
Cited together with United Housing Foundation, Inc. v. Forman · Tcherepnin v. Knight · Securities & Exchange Commission v. C. M. Joiner Leasing Corp. · Securities & Exchange Commission v. Glenn W. Turner Enterprises Inc. · International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Daniel
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 3,691 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“whether the scheme involves an investment of money in a common enterprise with profits to come solely from the efforts of others.”
365 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“any ... certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement or in any oil, gas, or other mineral royalty or lease.”
65 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“means any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a”
60 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.