United States v. Dickson’s Empirical Analysis
40 U.S. 141 · 1841
Citation profile
54 federal appellate · 31 district · 78 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 251 later decisions (43 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States (1977), Dalehite v. United States (1953)
54 federal appellate · 31 district · 78 state decisions — followed in 23 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 Ryan v. Carter
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 251 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ * * * We are led to the general rule of law, which has always prevailed, and become consecrated almost as a maxim in the interpretation of statutes, that where the enacting clause is general in its language and objects, and a proviso is afterwards introduced, that proviso is construed strictly, and takes no case out of the enacting clause which does not fall fairly within its terms. In short, a proviso carves special exceptions only out of the enacting clause; and those who set up any such exception, must establish it as being within the words as well as within the reason thereof.””
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“‘ ‘ ‘ The construction so given by the treasury department to any law affecting its arrangements and concerns, is certainly entitled to great respect. Still, however, if it is not in conformity to the true intendment and provisions of the law, it cannot be permitted to conclude the judgment of a court of justice. . . . It is not to be forgotten that onrs is a government of laws, and not of men; and that the judicial department has imposed upon it, by the constitution, the solemn duty to interpret the laws in the last resort; and however disagreeable that duty may be in cases where its own judgment shall differ from that of other high functionaries, it is not our liberty to surrender, or to waive it.” State ex rel. Pindall v. Ross, 55 Wash. 242 , 104 Pac. 216 .”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the uniform construction given to the act ... ever since its passage, by the Treasury Department,”
1 later decision 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.