George Smith v. William Turner Health-Commissioner of the Port of New York James Norris’s Empirical Analysis
48 U.S. 283 · 1849
Citation profile
39 federal appellate · 34 district · 75 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 410 later decisions (110 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2023 · most notably Papasan v. Allain (1986), Griffin v. Breckenridge (1971)
39 federal appellate · 34 district · 75 state decisions — followed in 27 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 M'Culloch v. State of Maryland · Gibbons v. Ogden · Osborn v. President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States · Calder et Wife, v. Bull et Wife. · Samuel Worcester v. The State of Georgia
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 410 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“For all the great purposes for which the Federal government was formed, we are one people, with one common country. We are all citizens of the United States; and as members of the same community, must have the right to pass and repass through every part of it without interruption, as freely as in our own States.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A state cannot regulate foreign commerce, but it may do many things which more or Jess affect it. It may tax a ship or other vessel used in commerce, the same as other property owned by its citizens. A state may tax the stages in which the mail is transported, but this does not regulate the conveyance of the mail any more than taxing a ship regulates commerce; and yet, in both instances, the tax on the property in some degree affects its use.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Commerce .Is defined to be ‘an exchange of commodities.’ But this definition does not convey the full meaning of the term. It includes ‘navigation and intercourse.’ That the transportation of passengers is part of commerce is not now an open question.””
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.