Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

123 federal appellate · 7 district · 86 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 361 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “is usually the wise policy, because in most matters it is more important that the applicable rule of law be settled than it be settled right.”

   45 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Thomas v. Washington Gas Light Co.

2. “to bring its opinions into agreement with experience and with facts newly ascertained.”

   11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Vasquez v. Hillery · In re Dillon

3. ““The opinion in Gillespie v. Oklahoma, supra, has often been referred to as the expression of an accepted principle. (Citing many prior decisions of the court.) “ ‘It is an established principle of our constitutional system of dual government that the instrumentalities, means and operations whereby the United States exercises its governmental powers are exempt from taxation by the states, and that the instrumentalities, means and operations whereby the states exert the governmental powers belonging to them are equally exempt from taxation by the United States/ Indian Motorcycle Co. v. United States, supra. ( 288 U. S. 570 , 576, 51 S. Ct. 601, 602 , 75 L. Ed. 1277 .) Each government is supreme in its sphere; and in order to preserve our dual system this fact must be given recognition.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hudson Oil Co. v. Board of County Commissioners