State v. Powell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The degree of negligence necessary to impose criminal liability for involuntary manslaughter was considered by this Court in State v. Powell, 114 Mont. 571, 576 , 138 P.2d 949, 950 , wherein the Court stated: “ ‘The Montana statute * * * [section 94-2507, R.C.M. 1947] defines involuntary manslaughter as follows: “The unlawful killing of a human being, without malice. It is of two kinds: * * . Involuntary, in the commission of an unlawful act which might produce death, in an unlawful manner, or without due caution or circumspection.” “ ‘This Court has never defined what is meant by the italicized portion above, that is, what degree of negligence is necessary to impose criminal responsibility. This question, however, is well settled in other jurisdictions. The general rule is stated in 26 Am.Jur. page 299, as follows: ‘ ‘ The authorities are agreed, in the absence of statutory regulations denouncing certain acts as criminal, that in order to impose criminal liability for a homicide caused by negligence, there must be a higher degree of negligence than is required to establish negligent default on a mere civil issue. The negligence must be aggravated, culpable, gross, or reckless, that is, the conduct of the accused must be such a departure from what would be tbe conduct of an ordinarily prudent or careful man under the same circumstances as to be incompatible with a proper regard for human life, or, in other words, a disregard for human life or an indifference to consequences.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Decker · State v. Mally