Robert Herd Company v. Krawill Machinery Corporation’s Empirical Analysis
1959
Citation profile
244 federal appellate · 55 district · 52 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 655 later decisions (11 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2019 · most notably Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. James N. Kirby, Pty Ltd. (2004), Vimar Seguros Reaseguros Sa v. M/v Sky Reefer (1995)
244 federal appellate · 55 district · 52 state decisions — followed in 11 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
reviewedRobert C. Herd & Co. v. Krawill Machinery Corp. (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Texas Pacific Railway Company v. Abilene Cotton Oil Company · Osborn v. President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States · Abel v. United States · Sloan Shipyards Corporation v. United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation
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 655 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“are not to be applied to alter familiar rules visiting liability upon a tortfeasor for the consequences of his negligence, unless the clarity of the language used expresses such to be the understanding of the contracting parties.”
35 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“was lifted almost bodily from the Hague Rules of 1921, as amended by the Brussels Convention of 1924.”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The Act is clearly phrased. It defines the term “carrier” to include “the owner or the charterer who enters into a contract of carriage with the shipper.” It imposes particularized duties and obligations upon, and grants stated immunities to, the “carrier.” Respecting limitation of the amount of liability for loss of or damage to goods, it says that “neither the carrier nor the ship” shall be liable for more than $500 per package. It makes no reference whatever to stevedores or agents.”
2 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.