Philadelphia & Reading Railroad v. Derby’s Empirical Analysis
55 U.S. 468 · 1852
Citation profile
59 federal appellate · 16 district · 131 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 253 later decisions (19 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2015 · most notably Lake Shore Ry Co v. Prentice (1893), Savings Bank v. Ward (1879)
59 federal appellate · 16 district · 131 state decisions — followed in 32 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 Thorne v. Deas · Church v. Mansfield · Commonwealth ex rel. Reynolds v. Stremback
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 253 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The rule- o-f respondeat superior,’ or that the master shall be civilly liable for the tortious acts of his servant, is o-f universal application, whether -the act be one of omission or commission, whether negligent, fraudulent or deceitful. If it be done in the course of his employment, the master is liable;' and it makes no difference that the master did not authorize, or even know of the servant’s act or neglect, or even if he ¡disapproved or forbade it, he is equally liable, if the act be done in the course of his servant’s employment. (See Story on Agency, sec. 452; Smith on Master and Servant, 152)””
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"`The servant is empowered by the master to discharge certain duties, and it is incumbent upon him to exercise the same care and attention which the law requires of the master; and, if that care and attention be about the management and custody of dangerous appliances, the master cannot shift the responsibility connected with the custody of such instruments to the servant to whom they have been intrusted, and escape liability therefor. This rule arises from the absolute duty which is owing to the public by those who employ in their business dangerous agencies or appliances, engines, or instruments liable, if negligently managed, to result in great damage to others.' "The disobedience, or contractual violations, of one to whom such an instrumentality is entrusted can no more logically exonerate a bailor than a `master' or employer: "`Says the Supreme Court of the United States: "The intrusting such a powerful and dangerous engine as a locomotive, to one who will not submit to control, and render implicit obedience to orders, is itself an act of negligence the `causa causans' of the mischief; while the proximate cause, or the ipsa negligentia which produces it, may truly be said, in most cases to be the disobedience of orders by the servant so intrusted. If such disobedience could be set up by a railroad company as a defense, when charged with negligence, the remedy of the injured party would in most cases be illusive. * * Any relaxation of the stringent policy and principles”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Wlien carriers undertake to convey persons by the powerful, but dangerous, agency of steam, public policy and safety require that they be held to the greatest possible care and diligence. And, whether tlio consideration for such transportation be pecuniary or otherwise, the personal safety of the passengers should not be left to the sport of chance or the negligence of careless agents. Any negligence in such cases may well deserve the epithet of gross.””
3 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.