Brown v. Spofford’s Empirical Analysis
95 U.S. 474 · 1877
Citation profile
49 federal appellate · 9 district · 57 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 144 later decisions (7 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2005 · most notably New Orleans Gas Co. v. Louisiana Light Co. (1885), Burke v. Dulaney (1894)
49 federal appellate · 9 district · 57 state decisions — followed in 26 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 Swift v. Tyson · Timothy Goodman v. John Simonds · Andrews v. Pond · Bank of United States v. Dunn
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 144 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is a firmly settled principle that parol evidence of an oral agreement, alleged to have been made at the time of the drawing, making, or indorsing of a bill or note, cannot be permitted to vary, qualify, or contradict, or add to or subtract from, the absolute terms of the written contract.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Burke v. Dulaney · Earle v. Enos““Parol evidence of an agreement made contemporaneously with, a promissory note, which contains an absolute promise to pay at a specified time, is not admissible in order to extend tbe time for payment, or to provide for the payment out of any particular fund, or in any other way than that specified in the instrument, or to make the payment depend upon condition. Chitty, Contr. (10th Ed.) 99; Abrey v. Crux, Law Rep. 5 C. P. 41; Allen v. Furbish, 4 Gray, 514 [ 64 Am. Dec. 87 ]; 2 Pars. Bills and Notes, 501.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Earle v. Enos“In the absence of fraud, accident, or mistake the rule is the same in equity as at law, that parol evidence of an oral agreement alleged to have been made at the time of drawing, making or indorsing a bill or note cannot he permitted to vary, qualify, or contradict, or to add to or subtract from, the absolute terms of the written contract. Forsyth v. Kimball, 91 U. S. 2 . (Italics supplied.)”
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.