Leary v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
81 U.S. 607 · 1871
Citation profile
67 federal appellate · 56 district · 15 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 222 later decisions (20 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2014 · most notably Reed v. Steamship Yaka (1963), Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co. v. Flint (1927)
67 federal appellate · 56 district · 15 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.
Relationships
Relies on Willard v. Presbury · Marcardier v. The Chesapeake Insurance Company
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 222 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““If the charter party let the entire vessel to the charterer with a transfer to him of its command and possession and consequent control over its navigation, he will generally be considered as owner for the voyage or service stipulated. But, on the other hand, if the charter party let only the use of the vessel, the owner at the same time retaining its command and possession, and control over its navigation, the charterer is regarded as a mere contractor for a designated service, and the duties and responsibilities of the owner are not changed. In the first case the charter party is a contract for the lease of the vessel; in the other it is a contract for a special service to be rendered by the owner of the vessel. In examining the adjudged cases on this subject, we find some differences of opinion, especially in the earlier cases, as to the effect to be given to certain technical terms used in the charter party in determining whether the instrument parts with the entire possession and control of the vessel, but no difference as to the rule of law applicable when the' construction is settled. All the cases agree that entire command and possession of the vessel, and consequent control over its navigation, must be surrendered to the charterer before he can be held as special owner for the voyage or other service mentioned. The retention by the general owner of such command, possession, and control is incompatible with the existence at the same time of such special ownership in ”
15 later decisions quote this exact passage“‘•If by the terms of a charter, or necessary intendment of the parties, the entire vessel is left to the charterer, with a transfer to him of its command 'and possession, and consequently of control over its navigation, he will generally be considered as owner pro hac vice, that is, as owner for the voyage or service stipulated, as to parties dealing with him in such capacity, whether the letting is in writing or by parol. The general owner is not a common carrier, bnt a bailee to transport for hire, and the charter is a contract for the lease of the vessel. The officers and crew are servants of the charterer, and the charterer becomes the carrier of the goods shipped, and in procuring freight the master is then the agent of the charterer, and the general owner is not responsible for the contracts of the master or charterer if the creditor has notice of such charter party, particularly where the charter expressly makes the master the agent of the charterer. If the charter party lets only the use of the vessel, the owner at the time retaining the command and possession and control over its navigation, the charterer is regarded as a contractor for a designated service, the charter party being a mere contract of affreightment and the duties and responsibilities of the owner are not changed, and the charterer is not clothed with the character or responsibility of ownership, A special ownership does not pass, although the terms of tho instrument are ‘let and hired,’ and the hirer ”
3 later decisions 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.