Allen v. Allen’s Empirical Analysis
1908
Citation profile
8 federal appellate · 147 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 155 later decisions — most recently January 1972 · most notably Gulf Production Co. v. Continental Oil Co. (1939), Burton v. Bell (1964)
8 federal appellate · 147 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
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 155 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““But when the owner of land agrees, as did Allen, that for a consideration it shall become the property of another, what is that but an attempt to convey his title, or a contract for the sale of his title? Or, if the agreement be to give the property to another, is it not merely an attempt to convey it? We can see but one answer to these questions and it is one which brings the case clearly within the inhibitions of the statute. The objection can not be met by merely changing the name of the transaction. In order to come within the doctrine of James v. Fulcrod [ 5 Tex. 512 , 55 Am. Dec. 743 ], it must be one which does not conflict with the statute. No contract, or conveyance, whatever may be the name given to it; can be permitted to do that and be enforced.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Moore v. Tucker““The language used in the decisions applying the rule that express trusts in lands may be proved by parol must be understood as referring to trusts of the nature of those in question in the particular cases and must not be so applied as to permit the passing of the title of one to another by mere parol agreement, as is here attempted, because such an application of the rule would completely defeat the statutory provisions referred to.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Frank v. Gaffney““After the title vested in Allen, free from a trust of any character, he could only have conveyed it by some instrument in writing.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Chasteen v. Miller
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.