Peabody v. Norfolk’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 federal appellate · 6 district · 61 state decisions

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 93 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[a person with a business secret] has a property in it, which a court of chancery will protect against one who in violation of contract and breach of confidence undertakes to apply it to his own use, or to disclose it to third persons”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hartman v. John D. Park & Sons Co. · Pepe Hazard v. Jones, No. Cv 96-0151601-S (Oct. 15, 2002)

2. ““In this court it is settled that a secret art is a legal subject of property, and that a bond for a conveyance of the exclusive right to it is not open to the objection of being in restraint of trade, but may be enforced by action at law, and requires the obligor not to divulge the secret to any other person. Vickery v. Welch, 19 Pick. 523 ; Taylor v. Blanchard, 13 Allen, 373 , 374 ( 90 Am. Dec. 203 ). In Jarvis v. Peck, 10 Paige, 118 , such a bond was held valid in equity.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. O. & W. Thum Co. v. Tloczynski

3. “Courts of Equity will restrain a party from making a disclosure of secrets, communicated to him in the course of a confidential employment. And it matters not, in such cases, whether the secrets be secrets of trade or secrets of title, or any other secrets of the party important to his interests.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Tavoulareas v. Washington Post Co.