Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge’s Empirical Analysis
36 U.S. 420 · 1837
Citation profile
68 federal appellate · 29 district · 209 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 539 later decisions (92 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2020 · most notably Erie Co v. Tompkins (1938), Powell v. State of Alabama Patterson (1932)
68 federal appellate · 29 district · 209 state decisions — followed in 42 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.
Relationships
Relies on Osborn v. President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States · Cohens v. Virginia · Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward · Fletcher v. Peck · Sturges v. Crowninshield
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 539 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[i]n grants by the public, nothing passes by implication.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“'(A)ny ambiguity in the terms of the contracts must operate against the (company) ... and in favor of the public'.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““[T]he object and end of all government is to promote the happiness and prosperity of the community by which it is established; and it can never be assumed, that the government intended to diminish its power of accomplishing the end for which it was created. And in a country like ours, free, active, and enterprising, continually advancing in numbers and wealth, new channels of communication are daily found necessary, both for travel and trade, and are essential to the comfort, convenience, and prosperity of the people. . . .” The continued existence of a government would be of no great value, if by implications and presumptions, it was disarmed of the powers necessary to accomplish the ends of its creation.”
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.