Christmas v. Russell’s Empirical Analysis
81 U.S. 69 · 1871
Citation profile
50 federal appellate · 26 district · 92 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 228 later decisions (15 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2011 · most notably Meyer v. Construction Co. (1879), Phœnix Insurance v. Erie & Western Transportation Co. (1886)
50 federal appellate · 26 district · 92 state decisions — followed in 28 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.
Relationships
Relies on Willard v. Presbury · Logan v. Patrick
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 228 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““An agreement to pay out of a particular fund, however clear in its terms, is not an equitable assignment. A convenant in the most solemn form has no greater effect. The phraseology employed is not material provided the intent to transfer is manifested. Such an intent and its execution are indis pensable. The assignor must not retain any control over the fund, any authority to collect, or any power of revocation. If he do, it is fatal to the claim of the assignee. The transfer must be of such a character that the fund holder can safely pay, and is compellable to do so, though forbidden by the assignor. Where the transfer is of the character described, the fund holder is bound from the time of notice.””
18 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““A mere promise, though, of the clearest and most solemn hind, to pay a debt out of a particular fund, is not an assignment of the fund, even in equity. To make an equitable assignment, there should be such an actual or constructive appropriation of the subject-matter as to confer a complete and present right in the party meant to be provided for, even where the circumstances do not admit of its immediate exercise. If the holder of the fund retain control over it, it is fatal to the claim 'of the assignee.” Christmas v. Russell, 14 Wall. 69 , 20 L. Ed. 762 .”
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.