Estate of Spiegel et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Decided January 17, 1949. Hugo Lafayette Black delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 3 · 335 U.S. 701 (1949) · Cited 162 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Reinecke v. Northern Trust Co. · 278 U.S. 339 (1929)
• Helvering v. Clifford · 309 U.S. 331 (1940)
• Helvering v. Hallock · 309 U.S. 106 (1940)
• United States v. Wells · 283 U.S. 102 (1931)
• Helvering v. Stuart · 317 U.S. 154 (1942)
• Klein v. United States · 283 U.S. 231 (1931)
• Goldstone v. United States · 325 U.S. 687 (1945)
• Hormel v. Helvering · 312 U.S. 552 (1941)
• Meredith v. Winter Haven · 320 U.S. 228 (1943)
• Hassett v. Welch · 303 U.S. 303 (1938)
• Harrison v. Schaffner · 312 U.S. 579 (1941)
• May v. Heiner · 281 U.S. 238 (1930)
• Young Men's Christian Assn. of Columbus v. Davis · 264 U.S. 47 (1924)
• Edwards v. Slocum · 264 U.S. 61 (1924)
• Helvering v. St. Louis Union Trust Co. · 296 U.S. 39 (1935)
• Allen v. Trust Co. of Ga. · 326 U.S. 630 (1946)
• Smith v. Shaughnessy · 318 U.S. 176 (1943)
• Becker v. St. Louis Union Trust Co. · 296 U.S. 48 (1935)
• Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co. v. Rothensies · 324 U.S. 108 (1945)
• Commissioner v. Estate of Field · 324 U.S. 113 (1945)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Propper v. Clark · 337 U.S. 472 (1949)
• United States v. Byrum · 408 U.S. 125 (1972)
• United States v. Estate of Grace · 395 U.S. 316 (1969)
• Richards v. United States · 369 U.S. 1 (1962)
• Byrd v. Blue Ridge Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. · 356 U.S. 525 (1958)
• James v. United States · 366 U.S. 213 (1961)
• Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. City of Thibodaux · 360 U.S. 25 (1959)
• Commissioner v. Estate of Church · 335 U.S. 632 (1949)
• The Tungus v. Skovgaard · 358 U.S. 588 (1959)
• United States v. Durham Lumber Co. · 363 U.S. 522 (1960)
• United States v. O'MALLEY · 383 U.S. 627 (1966)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).