Lafayette Insurance v. French’s Empirical Analysis
59 U.S. 404 · 1855
Citation profile
93 federal appellate · 42 district · 140 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 528 later decisions (82 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2023 · most notably International Shoe Co. v. Washington (1945), Shaffer v. Heitner (1977)
93 federal appellate · 42 district · 140 state decisions — followed in 37 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 Bank of Augusta v. Earle · Alexander Marshall v. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company · James D'Arcy v. Morris Ketchum Thomas Rogers and Edward Bement Copartners Trading Under the Name and Firm of Ketchum Rogers and Bement · Medway Cotton Manufactory v. Adams
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 528 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A corporation created by Indiana can transact business in Ohio only with the consent, express ' or implied, of the latter State, 13 Pet. 519 . This consent may be accompanied by such conditions as Ohio may think fit to impose; and these conditions must be deemed valid and effectual by other States, and by this court, 'provided they are not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A corporation may sue in a foreign state by its attorney there, and, if it fails in the suit, be subject to a judgment for costs. And so if a corporation, though in Indiana, should appoint an attorney to appear in an action brought in Ohio, and the attorney should appear, the court would have jurisdiction to render a judgment in all respects as obligatory as if the defendant were within the state. The inquiry is, not whether the defendant was personally within the state, but whether he, or some one authorized to act for him in reference to the suit, had notice and appeared; or, if he did not appears whether he was bound to appear or suffer a judgment by default.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““In the declaration the plaintiffs are averred to be citizens of Ohio, and they complain of the Lafayette Insurance Company, a citizen of the state of Indiana. This averment is not sufficient to show jurisdiction. It does not appear from it that the Lafayette Insurance Company is a corporation-, or, if it be such, by the law of what state it was created. The averments that the company is a citizen of the state of Indiana can have no sensible meaning attached to it. This court does not hold that either a voluntary association of persons, or an association into a body politic, created by law, is a citizen of a state, within the meaning of the constitution.””
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.