Bourn v. Beck’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 6 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Bourn was permitted to testify as to his conversations with Burton concerning the proposed trade between them. This is objected to on the ground that the testimony was hearsay and included self-serving declarations. The objection is not well taken. The evidence was not introduced in order to persuade the jury of the existence of some fact by showing them that Bourn or Burton had at some time said that it existed. The purpose was to show that an oral agreement was reached by the two, and the primary evidence of that was what each said at the time; the question at issue was whether or not words had been used creating a tentative contract. The evidence was of a ‘verbal act.’ “ ‘The theory of the hearsay rule is that, when a human utterance is offered as evidence of the truth of the fact asserted in it, the credit of the assertor becomes the basis of our inference, and therefore the assertion can be received only when made upon the stand, subject to the test of cross-examination. If, therefore, an extrajudicial utterance is offered, not as an assertion to evidence the matter asserted, but without reference to the truth of the matter asserted, the hearsay rule does not apply.’ (3 Wigmore on Evidence, 2nd ed., % 1766.) ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hartford v. Faw