first-in, first-out rule
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 295 U.S. 123 - Helvering v. Rankin · 1935Most cited · 792 citing opinions
When shares of stock in a corporation are sold from lots purchased at different dates and at different prices and the identity of the lots can not be determined, the stock sold shall be charged against the earliest purchases of such stock. The excess of the amount realized on the sale over cost or other basis of the stock will constitute gain.
How often courts cite the case defining “first-in, first-out rule”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “first-in, first-out rule” — 792 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case 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.