In re Welling’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 6 district ·

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

1. ““By the terms of the policy he was entitled to receive at the end of the tontine period the cash payment stipulated in the contract. That is a vested contract right, contingent only upon his surviving the tontine period. The right is valuable, increasing in value with each successive payment of premium. The policy, technically, had not a ‘surrender value,’ within the meáning of the proviso; but it had an actual value, and that valuable right was right of property existing in the bankrupt. It is the plain provision of the bankruptcy law that all the estate of the bankrupt shall by operation of law, be vested in the trustee, save such as is specifically excepted by the provisions of the bankruptcy law, or by the law of the domicile of the bankrupt. The language of the provision is comprehensive. Subdivision 5 of section 70a declares that there shall be thus vested in the trustee ‘property which prior to the filing of the petition he could by any means have transferred or which might have been levied upon and sold under .-judicial process against him.’ Then fpliows the proviso• which we have considered. It is clear that this proviso merely defines a certain class of insurance which may be excepted and exempted, by the action of the bankrupt and upon the conditions stated, from the general property which by the law is vested in the 'trustee. In other words the proviso is in the nature of a privilege to the debtor to retain such specified insurance upon yielding to the trustee the”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Partridge v. Andrews

2. ““One of the terms is that it shall he exercised November 27, 1906. Time, here, so far as Mrs. Welling is concerned, is of the essence of the option. The interest of the wife, and the sense of obligation of the husband may be different on that day from that of any day preceding or following. It is, in my judgment, the wife’s right that the election, affecting as it does her vital interests, shall be exercised only in view of the consideration that may influence the husband at that time; neither those before nor those after. “Another term of the option is that the election shall be by the husband himself. No one else can stand in his place, or exercise the option under the circumstances and sense of obligation that will influence him. It is the wife’s right‘to have the husband's judgment, not that of a stronger, the judgment of the man who presumably has an interest in her future, not that of a man whose interest in this respect is in conflict with hers. I am of the opinion that a fair interpretation of the spirit of the policy would disallow the exercise of the option of Welling until the day for its exercise had arrived, and would then disallow its exercise, unless it be by the judgment of Welling himself. Such an interpretation, of course, forbids the view that the option is transferable in advance, in this ease six years in advance, or was subject to levy by creditors.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Schaefer

3. ““The trustee of the estate of a bankrupt, upon his appointment and qualification * * * shall * * * be vested by operation of law with the title of the bankrupt, as of the date he was adjudged a bankrupt, except in so far as it is to property which is exempt to all * * * (5) property which prior to the filing of the petition he could by any means have transferred or which might have been levied upon and sold under judicial process against him: provided, that when any bankrupt shall have any insurance policy which has a cash surrender value payable to himself, his estate, or personal representatives, he may, within thirty days after the cash surrender value has been ascertained and stated to the trustee by the company issuing the same, pay or secure to the trustee the sum so ascertained and stated, and continue to hold, own, and carry such policy free from the claims of the creditors participating in the distribution of his estate under the bankruptcy 'proceedings, otherwise the policy shall pass to the trustee as assets.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Van Kirk v. Vermont Slate