Darling v. Rodgers’s Empirical Analysis
1871
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 13 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently June 1950
2 federal appellate · 13 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““All laws of a general nature sliall have' a uniform operation throughout the state; and in all eases where a general law can be made applicable no special law shall be enacted.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The language is plain and positive that all acts of a general nature shall have uniform operation. No discretion is left to the legislature or the courts. * * * Now, the fence law of 1868 is, without qziestion, a la,w of a general nature, and of uniform operation throughout the state. No part of its terms are repealed by the herd law. If the latter act be valid, the former no longer has a uniform operation throughout the state. That which was a general law, and had the required uniformity of operation, still remains the general law, but it is deprived of such uniformity. * * * Tested by this rule, rlu> fence act of 1868 is valid, and the herd law of 1870 void. * * * But it is contended rhat 1he two clauses of this constitutional section must be construed together, and the positive requirements of the first clause considered as limited by the discretion given by the latter; * * * that power 1o pass special laws carries with it the power to limit the operation of the general law by special laws. * * * If the legislature can, by simply specifying the locality over which a law shall operate, change a law of a general nature, the obligations of this valuable constitutional provision are weaker than a rope of sand.””
1 later decision 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.