The "Idaho."’s Empirical Analysis
93 U.S. 575 · 1876
Citation profile
39 federal appellate · 19 district · 66 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 159 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably St Louis Ry Co v. Knight (1887), Wolfe v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co. (1888)
39 federal appellate · 19 district · 66 state decisions — followed in 25 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 Hart v. Eyck · Western Transportation Co. v. . Barber · Bliven Mead v. . Hudson River R.R. Co. · Burton v. Wilkinson
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 159 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A delivery of goods to a ship corresponding in substance with a bill of lading given previously, if intended and received to meet the bill of lading, makes the bill operative from the time of such delivery.””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“<:But while the bailee' cannot avail himself of the title of a third person, though that third person be the true owner, for the purpose of keeping the property for himself, yet he may show as a defense against the bailor that he has actually delivered the property to the true owner, who had the right to possession upon a demand by the latter, even before legal proceedings have been commenced.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““But even if .they [the bales of cotton | were of the same kind and value, the wronged party would have a right to the possession of the entire aggregate, leaving the wrongdoer to reclaim Ms own, if he can identify it, or to demand his proportionate part.””
2 later decisions 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.