Hackett v. Ottawa’s Empirical Analysis
99 U.S. 86 · 1878
Citation profile
37 federal appellate · 17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 98 later decisions (11 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 1982 · most notably City of Omaha v. Omaha Water Co. (1910), Albert Waite v. City of Santa Cruz (1902)
37 federal appellate · 17 state decisions — followed in 12 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 Loan Association v. Topeka · Town of Coloma v. Eaves · Marsh v. Fulton County · Town of South Ottawa v. Perkins · Board of Commissioners v. Aspinwall
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 98 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A corporation, quite as much as an individual, is held to a careful adherence to truth in their dealings with mankind, and cannot by their representations or silence involve others in onerous engagements, and then defeat the calculations and claims their own conduct superinduced,””
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““An ordinance to provide for a loan for municipal purposes. “ Section 1. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Ottawa, that the mayor of the city be and is hereby authorized to borrow in the name of the city, at a rate of interest not exceeding 10 per cent., for the use of said city, to bo expended in developing the natural advantages of tlie city for manufacturing purposes, and that bonds of the city be issued therefor in sums of $500, with interest, payable annually; said bonds to be payable, one-third in 5 years, one-third in 10 years, and one-third in 15 years after the date hereof: provided, that no application shall be made of the proceeds of said bonds except for the purposes aforesaid, and in the pursuance of an ordinance to be passed for that purpose by the city council, not until the faithful application of the proceeds of such bonds to the purpose aforesaid shall be fully secured to the city. “Sec. 2. Be it ordained that a sufficient sum to pay the Interest on said loan shall be annually provided by taxation and set apart as a separate fund, and to be applied to the payment of tlie interest on said bonds and for no other purpose. “ Sec. 3. This ordinance shall be submitted to the voters of the city, to be voted for or against at an election to be held for that purpose on the twentieth day of July, 1869. The manner of the determination shall be by depositing ballots, upon which shall be written or printed, ‘For the loan ordinance,’or ‘Against the ioan or”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““ In view of the course of decisions in Illinois, we should hesitate to declare that money borrowed by the city of Ottawa and expended in developing its natural resources for manufacturing purposes, was not in the sense of the Illinois constitution of 1848, as interpreted by the supreme court of that stale, expended to promote the general prosperity and welfare of the municipality.””
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.