Case Citator › The Harrisburg

The Harrisburg

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Overruled
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
119 U.S. 199
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
130 of 135
Citing cases (total)
729
Treatment dates
1970
Overruled
A reviewed court has overruled this case. Of the 135 flagged citations for The Harrisburg, 130 were read, with the one confirmed treatment listed below. The Supreme Court expressly displaced The Harrisburg in Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., recognizing a general maritime wrongful-death cause of action and rejecting the earlier no-action rule as an unjustifiable anomaly.
More on how this was screened

Later readable opinions consistently reported Moragne's act; they do not create duplicate treatments. Earlier opinions applied The Harrisburg or used nearby adverse language for other maritime authorities, statutes, claims, and rulings. The text of the other five citing opinions could not be retrieved; they are listed below.

The treatments below are confirmed; unread citations could still change the overall status.
Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case, except the ones whose text could not be retrieved.

729 later cases cite The Harrisburg; 135 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading; 130 of them have been read, and the text of 5 citing opinions could not be retrieved, so those remain unread. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on The Harrisburg?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Overruled

  • The Supreme Court overruled The Harrisburg's rule that general maritime law affords no wrongful-death cause of action, recognizing such an action for deaths caused by violations of maritime duties.

    Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc. · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    On fresh consideration of the entire subject, we have concluded that the primary source of the confusion is not to be found in The Tungus, but in The Harrisburg, and that the latter decision, somewhat dubious even when rendered, is such an unjustifiable anomaly in the present maritime law that it should no longer be followed.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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