John Briscoe v. President Directors Bank Commonwealth Kentucky’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 5 district · 18 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 90 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It is, we think, a sound principle that when a government becomes a partner in any trading company, it divests itself, so far as concerns the transactions of that company, of its sovereign character, and takes that of a private citizen. Instead of communicating to the company its privileges and its prerogatives, it descends to a level with those with whom it associates itself, and .takes the character which belongs to its associates, and to the business which is to be transacted.””

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. The Pesaro · Metropolitan Savings Bank & Trust Co. of Pittsburgh v. Farmers' State Bank of Rosalie

2. ““It appeared that the bank of the state of Arkansas was incorporated by legislative act with the usual banking powers of discount, deposit, and circulation; that the state was its sole stockholder; that the capital stock of the bank consisted of $1,146,000 raised by the sale of state bonds and certain other sums. It was again held that a bank was a distinct trading corporation having a complete separate existence; enabled to enter into valid contracts by itself alone and having specific capital stock, provided and held out to the publie, as a means to pay its debts; that the obligations of its contracts, the funds provided for their performance, and the equitable rights of its creditors, were in no way affected by the fact that a sovereign state paid in its capital and consequently became entitled to its property. It further reaffirmed the principle that a state by owning all of the capital stock does not impart to that corporation any of its privileges or prerogatives; that it lays down its sovereignty so far as respects the transactions of the corporation and exercises no power or privilege in respect to those transactions not derived from the charter.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State of North Dakota v. Olson

3. ““The state does not, by becoming a corporator, identify itself with tile corporation. The Planters’ Bank of Georgia is not the state of Georgia, although the state holds an interest in it. * * * The state of Georgia, by giving to the bank the capacity to sue and be sued, voluntarily strips itself of its sovereign character, so far as respects the transactions of the bank, and waives all the privileges of that character. As a member of a corporation, a government never exercises its sovereignty. It acts merely as a cor-porator, and exercises no other power in the management of the affairs of the corporation, than are expressly given by the incorporating act. The government of the Union held shares in the old Bank of the United States; but the privileges of the government were not imparted by that circumstance to the bank.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Chesapeake & D. Canal Co.