William Cushing v. The Owners of the Ship John Fraser’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

33 federal appellate · 27 district · 9 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 117 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““According to the usage of trade at that port, she engaged a steamboat, well acquainted with the harbor and its usages, to bring her in. ¾ * * The General Clinch was * ⅜ * under the command and direction of her own pilot. * * * She could select her own course and her own rate of speed. * * * When fastened to the hawser, and in tow, the Fraser was controlled entirely by the steam tug, both as to her course and speed. The steamboat was not subject to the orders of the commander of the John Fraser, but was altogether under the control and direction of her own commander. ⅜ * * The Fraser could do nothing more than watch the motions of the steamboat, and use her own rudder, so as to keep as nearly as might be in the wake of the tug to which she was attached.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Loud v. The Doris Eckhoff · The Cromwell

2. “And the local authorities have a right to prescribe at what wharf a vessel may lie, and how long she may remain there ..., where she may anchor in the harbor, and for what time; ... And there is nothing in the regulations referred to in the port of Charleston which is in conflict with any law of Congress ...”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Beveridge v. Lewis · Richard Beveridge Peter Murray Gregory Davis Peter Eastman v. Steven H. Lewis City of Santa Barbara

3. ““It was especially the duty of the officer in command of the steamboat, in a crowded harbor like that, when his tow was following him at the rate of six or seven miles an hour, and her course necessarily directed by the steamtug, .to have scanned carefully the surrounding objects before he cast loose the towline, and to see that there was nothing in the way of the tow which she could not avoid by means of her own rudder, without the aid of the steamboat, and also to have given reasonable notice of his intention, in order that she might prepare to take care of herself. But this was not done. He suddenly let go the towing line, without notice or warning to the John Eraser.' And the moment after he had done so, and not before, he found his own vessel almost aboard of a vessel at anchor, and the head of the John Eraser, under the direction and impulse his ship had given her, directed upon the anchored vessel, and too near to avoid a collision when she had lost the aid of the General Clinch.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. City of Port Arthur