Gray v. Darlington’s Empirical Analysis
82 U.S. 63 · 1872
Citation profile
18 federal appellate · 16 district · 16 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 82 later decisions (28 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2024 · most notably Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad (1916), Towne v. Eisner (1918)
18 federal appellate · 16 district · 16 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 82 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The question presented is whether the advance in the value of the bonds, during this period of four years, over their cost, realized by their sale, was subject to taxation as gains, profits, or income of the plaintiff for the year in which the bonds were sold. The answer which should be given to this question does not, in our judgment, admit of any doubt. The advance in the value of property during a series of years can in no just sense, be considered the gains, profits, or income of any one particular year of the series, although the entire amount of the advance be at one time turned into money by a sale of the property. The statute looks, with some exceptions, for subjects of taxation only to annual gains, profits, and income.””
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““In estimating the gains, profits, and income of any person, there shall be included all incomes derived from interest upon notes, bonds, and other securities of the United States, profits realized within the year .from sales of real estate purchased within the year, or within two years previous to the year for which income is estimated, * * * and all other gains, profits, and income derived from any source whatever.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“the tax herein provided for .shall be assessed, collected, and paid upon the gains, profits, and income for the year ending the thirty-first day of December next preceding the time for levying, collecting, and paying said tax.”
1 later decision 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.