Ramsey v. . Cheek’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 24 state decisions

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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Privileged communications are of two kinds: (1) Absolutely privileged, — which are restricted to cases in which it is so much to the public interest that the defendant should speak out his mind fully and freely that all actions in respect to the words used are absolutely forbidden, even though it be alleged that they were used falsely, knowingly, and with express malice. This complete immunity obtains only where the public service or the due administration of justice requires it, e.g., words used in debate in congress and the state legislatures, reports of military or other officers to their superiors in the line of their duty, everything said by a judge on the bench, by a witness in the box, and the like. In these cases the action is absolutely barred. (2) Qualified privilege. In less important matters, where the public interest does not require such absolute immunity, the plaintiff will recover in spite of the privilege if he can prove that the words were not used bona fide, but that the defendant used the privileged occasion artfully and knowingly to falsely defame the plaintiff. In this class of cases an action will lie only where the party is guilty of falsehood and express malice.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. McDonald

2. “If the party knows the charge to be false, or makes it without probable cause, this is evidence of malice.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ponder v. Cobb