Cartwright v. McGown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 federal appellate · 107 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 124 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ Where parties competent to contract have agreed to marry at some future time, if they have copula,, which is lawful only in the married state, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary they will be presumed to have become actually married by taking each other for husband and wife, and to have changed their future promise to marry, to one of present marriage. In such a case the copula will be presumed to have been allowed on the faith of the marriage promise, and that the parties, at the time of such copula, accepted each other as man and wife. Port v. Port, 70 Ill. 484 ; Hebblethwaite v. Hepworth, 98 Id. 126. This kind of a marriage must be distinguished from cases of seduction, or sexual intercourse followed by a promise of marriage, and cases where the intercourse, in its inception, is illicit, and is known to be such. Cheney v. Arnold, 15 N. Y. 345 ; Duncan v. Duncan, 10 Ohio St. 181 ; 1 Bishop on Marriage and Divorce, Sec. 261.” See also Ib. 403.”

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

2. ““ In Hantz v. Sealy, 6 Binn. 405 , the plaintiff and defendant had long lived in adulterous intercourse, although they considered themselves as lawfully married. In fact, they had entered into a marriage contract which was void, because the defendant had a former wife living, from whom he had been separated by consent, but not legally. After a legal divorce was procured, they were advised by their lawyer to celebrate a new marriage. The defendant said : ‘ I take you (the plaintiff) for my wife;’- and the plaintiff, being told if she would say the same thing the marriage would be complete, answered, ‘ To be sure, he is my husband—good enough.’ The court held that these words of the woman did not constitute a present contract, but alluded to the past contract, which she always asserted to be a legal marriage.””

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

3. ““ When the relation between a man -and a woman, living together, is illicit in its commencement, it is presumed to so continue until a changed relation is proved. Without proof of subsequent actual marriage, it will not be presumed from continued cohabitation and reputation of a relation between them, which was of illicit origin.””

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