Forbes v. Gracey’s Empirical Analysis
94 U.S. 762 · 1876
Citation profile
34 federal appellate · 38 district · 64 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 218 later decisions (40 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2017 · most notably James v. Dravo Contracting Co. (1937), Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co. (1932)
34 federal appellate · 38 district · 64 state decisions — followed in 16 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.
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 218 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““And by section 2322, Rev. St. [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1425], it is provided that, when such qualified persons have made discovery of mineral lands and complied with the law, they shall have the exclusive right to possession and enjoyment of the same. It has, therefore, been repeatedly held that mining claims are property in the fullest sense of the word, and may be sold, transferred, mortgaged, and inherited without infringing the title of the United States, and that, when a location is perfected, it has the effect of a grant by the United States of the right of present and exclusive possession.””
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“the moment this ore becomes detached from the soil in which it is embedded.... [The minerals are] then free from any lien, claim, or title of the United States....”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage““Congress has, by statutes and by tacit consent, permitted individuals and corporations to dig out and convert to' tbeir own use tbe ores containing tbe precious'-metals which are found in tbe lands belonging to tbe government, without exacting or receiving any compensation for those ores, and without .requiring tbe miner to buy or pay for the land. It has gone further, and recognized-tbe possessory rights of these' miners, as ascertained among them selves by the rules which have become the laws of the mining districts as regards mining claims.””
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.