Merrill v. Commissioner’s Empirical Analysis
1963
Citation profile
9 federal appellate ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 70 later decisions — most recently September 2018 · most notably Estate of Franklin v. Commissioner (1975), Baird v. Commissioner (1977)
9 federal appellate ·
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
Applies 26 U.S.C. § 1231
Relies on Brewster v. Gage · Helvering v. San Joaquin Fruit & Investment Co. · McFeely v. Commissioner · Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Union Pac. R. Co. · Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. North Jersey Title Ins.
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 70 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“* * * we believe we must take into consideration in determining a taxpayer’s holding period for purposes of section 1231 not only the dates on which bare legal title to the property passed but also the dates on which the benefits and burdens or the incidents of ownership of the property were acquired and disposed of in a closed transaction. It is recognized that property, in the legal sense, means not the thing itself, but the rights which inhere in it. [Citation omitted.] Ownership of property is not a single indivisible concept but a collection or bundle of rights with respect to the property. Normally, ownership of real estate would be considered transferred on the date of delivery of the deed. But where delivery of the deed is delayed to secure payment of the purchase price or for some other reason such as the escrow arrangement here involved, we believe the intent of the parties as to when the benefits and burdens of ownership of the property are to be transferred, as evidenced by factors other than passage of bare legal title, must control for purposes of this statute. [ 40 T.C. at 74 .]”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“A closed transaction for tax purposes results from a contract of sale which is absolute and unconditional on the part of the seller to deliver to the buyer a deed upon payment of the consideration and by which the purchaser secures immediate possession and exercises all the rights of ownership. The delivery of a deed may be postponed and payment of part of the purchase price may be deferred by installment payments; but for taxing purposes it is enough if the vendor obtains under the contract the unqualified right to recover the consideration. [Citations omitted.]”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“the benefits and burdens or the incidents of ownership of the property”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.