Benjamin N. Cardozo - Cases

Cases

New York Courts

• Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital, 105 N.E. 92 (1914) it is necessary to get informed consent from a patient before operation, but a non-profit hospital was not vicariously liable (the latter aspect was reversed in 1957)
• MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co., 111 N.E. 1050 (1916) ending privity as a source of duty in products liability, ruling that manufacturers of products could be held liable for injuries to consumers.
• DeCicco v. Schweizer, 117 N.E. 807 (1917) where Cardozo approached the issue of third party beneficiary law in a contract for marriage case.
• Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, 118 N.E. 214 (1917) on a promise to maybe do something constituting consideration in a contract.
• Martin v. Herzog, 126 N.E. 814 (1920) breach of statutory duty establishes negligence, and the elements of the claim includes proof of causation
• Jacob & Youngs v. Kent, 230 N.Y. 239 (1921), substantial performance of a contract does not lead to a right to terminate, only damages.
• Hynes v. New York Central Railroad Company, 131 N.E. 898 (1921), a railway owed a duty of care despite the victims being trespassers.
• Berkey v. Third Avenue Railway, 244 N.Y. 84 (1926), the corporate veil cannot be pierced, even in favor of a tort victim unless domination of a subsidiary by the parent is complete.
• Wagner v. International Railway, 232 N.Y. 176 (1926) the rescue doctrine. "Danger invites rescue. The cry of distress is the summons to relief The emergency begets the man. The wrongdoer may not have foreseen the coming of a deliverer. He is accountable as if he had."
• Meinhard v. Salmon, 164 N.E. 545 (1928) the fiduciary duty of business partners is, "Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive."
• Palsgraf v. Long Island Rail Road Co., 162 N.E. 99 (1928) the development of the concept of the proximate cause in tort law.
• Murphy v. Steeplechase Amusement Park, 166 N.E. 173 (1929) denied a right to recover for knee injury from riding "The Flopper" funride since the victim "assumed the risk."
• Ultramares v. Touche, 174 N.E. 441 (1931) on the limitation of liability of auditors

US Supreme Court

• Nixon v. Condon, 286 U.S. 73 (1932) all white Texas Democratic Party unconstitutional
• Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111 (1933) which concerns Internal Revenue Code Section 162 and the meaning of "ordinary" business deductions.
• Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388 (1935) dissenting from a narrow interpretation of the Commerce Clause.
• A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935) invalidating poultry regulations as outside the commerce clause power.
• Carter v. Carter Coal Company, 298 U.S. 238 (1936) dissenting over the scope of the Commerce Clause.
• Steward Machine Company v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937) unemployment compensation and social security were constitutional
• Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937) social security not a contributory programme
• Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319 (1937) the due process clause incorporated those rights which were "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty."