indispensable party
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 390 U.S. 102 - Provident Tradesmens Bank & Trust Co. v. Patterson · 1968Most cited · 3,058 citing opinions
Whether a person is 'indispensable,' that is, whether a particular lawsuit must be dismissed in the absence of that person, can only be determined in the context of particular litigation. The decision to proceed is a decision that the absent person is merely 'necessary' while the decision to dismiss is a decision that he is 'indispensable.' A court does not know whether a particular person is 'indispensable' until it has examined the situation to determine whether it can proceed without him.
How the Supreme Court has restated “indispensable party”
Each Supreme Court definition of “indispensable party,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “indispensable party”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “indispensable party” — 4,841 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1909–1968
- ORIGINAL
The relation of an indispensable party to the suit must be such that no decree can be entered in the case which will do justice between the parties actually before the court without injuriously affecting the rights of such absent party.
if the merits of the cause may be determined without prejudice to the rights of necessary parties, absent and beyond the jurisdiction of the court, it will be done; and a court of equity will strain hard to reach that result
equity rule
the superior officer is an indispensable party if the decree granting the relief sought will require him to take action, either by exercising directly a power lodged in him or by having a subordinate exercise it for him.
superior officer