United States v. Mortimer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

47 federal appellate · 3 district · 8 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 63 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"But appellant argues most strenuously that all of Karcher's aides should have been called. That this is a purely formal objection is shown by the testimony obtained from the one aide who took the stand. He testified that he and another assistant had made up the record cards, which he produced, covering their abstracts from the tax records on over a thousand parcels. Thus the amenities were formally satisfied, but certainly appellant was not the gainer, if indeed, anyone was, by such routine testimony. Obviously the aides saw only part of the picture. The authenticity of the whole must depend upon Karcher's supervision and direction. His should therefore be the testimony upon which its evidential value rests. Karcher himself testified that he supervised the entire job, giving full time from November, 1934, until June or July, 1935, and then for various periods until the fall of 1937. First the arrears as shown by the company's own files were computed; then, since these were not complete, he directed the check from the tax records according to a plan which called for arrears of at least 30 days' duration, and resolved all doubtful questions in favor of defendants. We have seen that the results demonstrated the fairness of his method." (Emphasis added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Mastan Company v. American Custom Homes, Inc.

2. ““On principle we cannot see why an accountant’s aides whose job it is to take off material from the public records so that their chief may construct his tables and charts accurately are not acting in the regular course of business. * * * Likewise, accuracy is the life of an accountant’s business, but the multitude of records cannot be checked by any one person alone. And here the system followed was not merely likely to insure accuracy, but apparently did so, since the other side, far from discrediting the records, actually supported them. The trend in the courts is unmistakably to follow the methods of ordinary business in assuming the validity, until discredited, of records daily accepted in commercial routine. * * * ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Zacher v. United States

3. “made in the regular course of any business”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Diamond Shamrock Corp. v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.