Curtis v. Whitney’s Empirical Analysis
80 U.S. 68 · 1871
Citation profile
8 federal appellate · 6 district · 42 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 95 later decisions (24 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2018 · most notably Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell (1934), Blodgett v. Holden (1927)
8 federal appellate · 6 district · 42 state decisions — followed in 19 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.
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 95 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ That a statute is not void because it is retrospective has been repeatedly held by this court, and the feature of the act of 1867 [Laws of Washington], which makes it applicable to certificates already issued for tax sales, does not of itself conflict with- the constitution of the United States. Nor does every statute which affects the value of a contract impair its obligation. ... In the case before us the right of plaintiff to receive her deed is not taken away, nor the time when she would be entitled to it postponed. While she had a right to receive either her money or her deed at the end of three years, the owner of the land had a right to pay the money and thus prevent a conveyance. These were the coincident rights of the parties growing out of the contract by which the land was sold for taxes. The legislature, by way of giving efficacy to the right of redemption, passed a law which was just, easy to be complied with, and necessary to secure in many cases the exercise of this right. Can this be said to impair the obligation of plaintiff’s contract, because it required her to give such notice as would enable the other party to exercise his rights under the contract ? How does such a requirement lessen the binding efficacy of plaintiff’s contract ? The right to the money or the land remains, and can be enforced whenever the party gives the requisite legal notice. The authority of the legislature to frame rules by which the right of redemption may be rendered effectual ca”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“vast disproportion between the value of the land and the sum for which it is usually bid off at such sales.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Wood v. Lovett
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.