Marion v. Ellis’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ There is no doubt, that the sole object of the deed to the complainant was to give this court jurisdiction, and that the grantor has borne and still bears the expenses of the suit. But neither of these facts renders the deed inoperative to transfer the title. The defendants are not in a position to question the right of the grantor to give away the property if he chooses to do so. And the court will not, at the suggestion of a stranger to the title, inquire into the motives which induced the grantor to part with his interest. It is sufficient that the instrument executed is valid in law, and that the grantee is of the class entitled under the laws of congress to proceed in the federal courts for the protection of his rights. It is only when the conveyance is executed, to give the court jurisdiction, and is accompanied with an agreement to retrans-fer the property at the request of the grantor upon the termination of the litigation, that the proceeding will be treated as a fraud upon the court. Such ' was the ease of Barney v. Baltimore City, upon wjiich the defendants rely. 6 Wall. 280 . Here there was no such agreement, and it will be optional with the complainant to retransfer or retain the property.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Collinson v. Jackson