United States v. Cooper Corp.

The occasional decisions in which the word “person” has been said to exclude the sovereign have never attained the dignity of a firm rule of law. In many cases the state or United States has been held in-eluded within legislative contemplation when “person” appeared in a statute, often under circumstances harmful, rather than helpful, to the sovereign. See Stanley v. Schwalby, 147 U.S. 508, 517, 13 S.Ct. 418, 37 L.Ed. 259; Ohio v. Helvering, 292 U.S. 360, 54 S.Ct. 725, 78 L.Ed. 1307 [cf. Helvering v. Stockholms Enskilda Bank, 293 U.S. 84, 86, 55 S.Ct. 50, 79 L.Ed. 211]; Nardone v. United…