Teopfer v. Kaeufer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““All of the states, so far as we have been able to discover, which hold that the marriage of a woman does not set aside a will made before such marriage, make such holding on the ground that the law amply provides for the survivor; but in those jurisdictions where the husband and wife are heir to each other, in the event of no children being born, the rule is generally held to be that marriage works such a change in the condition and circumstances of the testator as to revoke a will made prior to such marriage. It is presumed that the intent of the testator was that such a will should not take effect upon the happening of such a contingency. We do not think that the mere marriage of a woman would set aside her will, but it is the coming of a new heir; for under the laws of this territory, by marriage not only does a man or woman get a wife or husband, but also an heir. “We think that under the laws of this territory by which the surviving spouse is the heir to the other in the event of no children being born of the marriage and no valid will being made during coverture, that the common law is so altered that on marriage the antenuptial will of a husband would be set aside as well as that of his wife, and that both of them are now on the same footing. Marriage and the coming in of an heir to all the property works such a natural change in the testator’s condition that it is not to be expected that the devise was made in view of such changed conditions.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Lewis' Will · Wagner v. Thornton