Samuel Dinsman v. Charles Wilkes’s Empirical Analysis
53 U.S. 390 · 1851
Citation profile
22 federal appellate · 7 district · 8 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 66 later decisions (10 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2012 · most notably Malley v. Briggs (1986), Albright v. Oliver (1994)
22 federal appellate · 7 district · 8 state decisions
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 White v. Nicholls · Charles Wilkes v. Samuel Dinsman · George Parks Administrator of Samuel Parks v. John Ross · King v. Root
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 66 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“An individual soldier is not free to ignore the lawful orders or duties assigned by his immediate superiors. For there would be an end of all discipline if the seamen and marines on board a ship of war [or soldiers deployed in the field], on a distant service, were permitted to act upon their own opinion of their rights [or their opinion of the President’s and United Nations’ intent], and to throw off the authority of the commander whenever they supposed it to be unlawfully exercised.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“It must not be lost sight of . . . that, while the chief agent of the government, in so important a trust, when conducting with skill, fidelity, and energy, is to be protected under mere errors of judgment in the discharge of his duties, yet he is not to be shielded from responsibility if he acts out of his authority or jurisdiction, or inflicts private injury either from malice, cruelty, or any species of oppression, founded on considerations independent of public ends. 58”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“for acts beyond his jurisdiction, or attended with circumstances of excessive severity, arising from ill-will or a depraved disposition, or a vindictive feeling....”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Trerice v. Summons
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.