Case v. Hoffman’s Empirical Analysis
1893
Citation profile
16 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently November 1990
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.
Relationships
Relies on Hoyt v. City of Hudson · Pettigrew v. Village of Evansville · Hanlin v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. · Wadsworth v. Tillotson · Macomber v. Godfrey
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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Surface water is such as its name indicates. It spreads over the surface of the ground. It has its origin most commonly in rains and melted snow. It may stand in swamps, or it may percolate through or under the soil. It is as well defined, and the law applicable to it stated as well, in Hoyt v. Hudson, 27 Wis. 656 , as in any case in the books. ‘The doctrine of the common law,’ says Chief Justice Dixon, ‘is that there exists no such natural easement or servitude in favor of the owner of the superior or higher ground or fields as to mere surface water, or such as falls or accumulates by rain or the melting of snow; and that the proprietor of the inferior or lower tenement or estate, may, if he choose, lawfully obstruct or hinder the natural flow of such water thereon, and in so doing may turn the same back upon or off onto or over the lands of other proprietors, without liability for injuries ensuing from such obstruction or diversion.’ Nearly the same language is used by the same learned chief justice in Pettigrew v. Evansville, 25 Wis. 223 . It is further described as ‘waters flowing in hollows or ravines, from rain or melting snow;’ or, ‘drainage over the land occasioned by unusual freshets or other extraordinary causes,’ and are not permanent, but soon pass off or dry up when the cause ceases. Fryer v. Warne, 29 Wis. 511 ; Eulrich v. Richter, 37 Wis. 226 ; Allen v. Chippewa Falls, 52 Wis. 434 ; O’Connor v. F. du L., A. & P. R. Co. 52 Wis. 530 ; Hanlin v. C. & N. W. R. Co.”
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.