These tables are derived from information contained in 287 Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions that were turned up in a Nexis Uni search for decisions filed between September 1, 1915, and August 31, 1916. The total of 287 decisions does not include various orders pertaining to petitions, motions, and disciplinary matters involving lawyers and judges.
Cases are omitted if they were decided during the previous term but appeared in the search results because motions for reconsideration were not decided until 1915-16. Such cases will be included in the tables for 1914-15.
When two or more cases were, in effect, consolidated—one was simply said to be ruled by the decision in the other—the cases are counted as only one. For instance: (1) Klar Piquett Mining Co. v. Platteville (163 Wis. 215) and Klar Piquett Mining Co. v. Platteville (163 Wis. 214); (2) Gertz v. Vaughn (163 Wis. 557) and Northern Chief Iron Co. v. Vaughn (163 Wis. 661); (3) Charles A. Stickney Co. v. Lynch (163 Wis. 353) and Merchants Nat’l Bank v. Lynch (163 Wis. 358); (4) State ex rel. Bundy v. Nygaard (163 Wis. 307) and State ex rel. O. H. Ingram Co. v. Wisconsin Tax Com. (163 Wis. 311); (5) Johns v. Platteville (163 Wis. 219) and Carthew v. Platteville (163 Wis. 226); (6) Chicago, M. & S. P. R. Co. v. Rock County Sugar Co. (162 Wis. 374) and Chicago & N. W. R. Co. v. Rock County Sugar Co. (162 Wis. 382); (7) State ex rel. Kempsmith v. Widule (161 Wis. 389) and State ex rel. Field v. Widule (161 Wis. 393).
Deadlocked decisions (3-3 or 2-2 votes) are not included: (1) Faust Lumber Co. v. Industrial Com.; (2) Nelson v. Fairchild & N. E. R. Co.; and (3) Wisconsin Chair Co. v. Industrial Com.
Also omitted is State ex rel. Owen v. Donald, whose contents are largely just a report submitted by a referee appointed by the court.
I am including Martin v. Chicago, M. & S. P. R. Co., an odd 3-2 decision with no majority opinion. Justice Kerwin simply listed the three justices on one side and the two (including himself) on the other.
Eight justices appear in a number of the tables because Justice John Barnes resigned in February 1916 and was replaced later that month by Justice Marvin Rosenberry. The sources do not make it possible to determine precisely when Justice Barnes ceased to participate in cases before his departure; nor can we tell exactly when Justice Rosenberry began voting in decisions filed after his arrival. The decisions name the authors of majority opinions and separate opinions, as well as the justices who joined separate opinions, but they do not list the justices who merely joined majority opinions (by far the largest category of participation). Thus, I sometimes had to guess from fragmentary internal evidence whether a decision was, say, 6-0 or 7-0, and this should be borne in mind when viewing some of the following tables.
The tables are available as a complete set and by individual topic in the subsets listed below.
Four-to-Three Decisions
Decisions Arranged by Vote Split
Frequency of Justices in the Majority
Distribution of Opinion Authorship
Frequency of Agreement Between Pairs of Justices
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