United States v. Hodson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

60 federal appellate · 15 district · 75 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 220 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But we prefer to place our judgment upon the broader ground marked out toy the adjudications of this court, to which we have referred. Everyone is presumed to know the law. Ignorance standing alone can never be the basis of a legal right. If a bond is liable to the objection taken in this case and the parties are dissatisfied, the objection should be made when the bond is presented for execution. If executed under constraint, the constraint will destroy it. But where it is voluntarily entered into and the principal enjoys the benefits which it is intended to secure and a breach occurs, it is then too late to raise the question of its validity. The parties are estopped from availing themse1ves of such a defense. In such cases there is neither injustice nor hardship in holding that the contract as made is the measure of the rights of the government and of the liability of the obligors.””

   10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States ex rel. Hine v. Morse · Charles Roesch & Sons Co. v. Mumford

2. ““It is well settled that a bond given in pursuance of some requirement of law may be valid.and binding on the parties, although not made with the formalities or executed in the mode provided by the statute under which it purports to have been given. This rule rests on the principle that, although the instrument may not conform to the special provision of the statute or regulations with reference to which the parties executed it, nevertheless it is a contract voluntarily entered into upon a sufficient consideration, for a purpose not contrary to law, and therefore it is obligatory upon the parties to it in like manner as’ any other contract or agreement is held valid at common law. Bank v. Smith, 5 Allen, 415 ; U. S. v. Bradley, 10 Pet. 357 , 9 L. Ed. 448 ; U. S. v. Linn, 15 Pet. 311 , 10 L. Ed. 742 ; U. S. v. Hodson, 10 Wall. 395 , 19 L. Ed. 937 ; Sheppard v. Collins, 12 Iowa, 570 . The bond in suit possesses all the requisites of a good common-law bond. It was voluntarily given upon a sufficient consideration for a lawful purpose, and is as obligatory on the makers as if it had conformed technically with the requirements of the act.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Grady v. United States · 9 Abb. N. Cas. 385 - Warner v. Ross

3. ““It is a settled principle of law that where a bond contains conditions some of which are legal and others illegal, and they are severable and separable, the latter may be disregarded and the former enforced.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. McCullough v. Smith · Gillespie v. Frisbie