Coffin v. Ogden’s Empirical Analysis
85 U.S. 120 · 1873
Citation profile
127 federal appellate · 97 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 527 later decisions (27 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2019 · most notably Washburn Moen Manuf'G Co v. Beat 'Em All Barbed-Wire Co (1892), Morgan v. Daniels (1894)
127 federal appellate · 97 district · 3 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 United States v. Buzzo
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 527 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ * * * The invention or discovery relied on as a defense must have been complete, and capable of producing the result sought to be accomplished; * * *. The law requires not conjecture but certainty. If the question relate to a machine, the conception must have been clothed in substantial forms which demonstrate at once its practical efficacy and utility. * * * ””
26 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Here it is abundantly proved that the lock originally made by Erbo ‘was complete and capable of working.’ The priority of Erbe’s invention is clearly shown. It was known at the time to at least five'persons, Including .Tones, and probably to many others in the shop where Erbe worked; and the lock was put in use, being applied to a door, as proved by Brossi. It was * * * tested and shown to be successful. These facts bring the case made by the appellees within the severest legal test which can be applied to them. The defense relied upon is fully made out.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Whether the proposition expressed by the proviso in the last sentence is a sound one, it is not necessary in this case to consider.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.