Chicago City v. Robbins’s Empirical Analysis
67 U.S. 418 · 1862
Citation profile
60 federal appellate · 15 district · 66 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 188 later decisions (15 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2022 · most notably Erie Co v. Tompkins (1938), Hudson County Water Co. v. McCarter (1908)
60 federal appellate · 15 district · 66 state decisions — followed in 26 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 Storrs v. . the City of Utica · Dygert v. Schenck · Congreve v. . Morgan · Administrator of Seymour v. Beach
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 188 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"It is well settled that a municipal corporation having the exclusive care and control of the streets, is obliged to see that they are kept safe for the passage of persons and property, and to abate all nuisances that might prove dangerous; and if this plain duty is neglected, and any one is injured, it is liable for the damages sustained. The corporation has, however, a remedy over against the party that is in fault, and has so used the streets as to produce the injury, unless it was also a wrong doer."”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“Robbins is not, however, estopped from showing that he was under no obligation to keep the street in a safe condition, and that it was not through his fault the accident happened”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“"He cannot, escape liability by letting work out like tills to a contractor and shift responsibility on him if an accident.occurs. lie cannot even refrain from dim-ting his contractor in the execution of the work, so as to avoid making the nuisance. A hole cannot be dug in the sidewalk of a large city and left without guards and light at night, without great danger to life and limb, and be who orders it dug, and makes no provision for its safety, is chargeable, if injury is suffered.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.