Lee v. Watson’s Empirical Analysis
68 U.S. 337 · 1863
Citation profile
11 federal appellate · 9 district · 12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 76 later decisions (20 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 1962 · most notably St Paul Mercury Indemnity Co v. Red Cab Co (1938), Barry v. Edmunds (1886)
11 federal appellate · 9 district · 12 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.
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 76 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““In an action upon a money demand, where the general issue is pleaded, the matter in dispute is the debt claimed; and its amount, as stated in the body of the declaration, and not merely the damages alleged, or the prayer for Judgment at its conclusion, must be considered in determining the question whether this court can take Jurisdiction on a writ of error sued out by the plaintiff. It certainly would not be pretended that this court would, hear a case where the plaintiff counted solely upon a promissory note of $200, simply because he concluded his declaration with an averment that he had sustained damages from its nonpayment of over $2,000, and prayed Judgment for the latter sum. * * * The damages or prayer for Judgment must be regarded, inasmuch as the plaintiff may seek a'recovery for less than the sum to which he appears entitled by the allegations in the body of the declaration.” /”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"By matter in dispute is meant the subject of litigation, tlie matter for •which the suit is brought.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“that in the progress of the cause an amendment was made in the. amount of damages claimed for the purpose of bringing the case within the appellate jurisdiction of.this court.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Barry v. Edmunds
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.